Shadows Are Rising
by Twin Shadows
Summary: AU: What if Ichigo ran into someone after his talk with Shinji? What if this stranger offered Ichigo the chance to become stronger? But who is this stranger? And what will happen to Ichigo's friends and family when they get involved in this madness?
1. Prologue: Calm Before the Storm

_**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to Bleach in any way, shape, or form. I do claim ownership to my OCs, however, so if anyone needs to borrow them for one of their stories, just send a review requesting the use, along with a basic idea of the story you're writing and the promise they won't be used as villains. I wouldn't mind if they were either made into anti-heroes or anti-villains, just no making them classic villains. There will be parts that I will be referencing from One Manga and my own manga so that I'll be as accurate as possible with my fiction piece. So, please don't hate me.**_

**-- TwinShadows**

**Shadows Are Rising**

**Prologue: Calm Before the Storm**

_Soul Society, Sokyoku Hill..._

The battle between the two combatants had reached its zenith. The one outside of the crater had a black traditional Japanese kimono, called a shihakusho (Soul Reaper's uniform), underneath a white sleeveless haori with the kanji for 'six' on his back, signifying his role as the captain of Squad 6 in the 13 Court Guard Squads. His dark hair flowed just past his shoulders with a special decorative piece called a kensaikon in it, which parted his bangs into three separate strands covering his storm gray eyes. The man's face, which under normal circumstances would have held the beauty, grace, and emotional equivalence of a marble statue, was staring in astonishment at what his opponent had just told him. Looking into the crater that his zanpakuto(Soul-Cutting Sword), Senbon Sakura, had caused, Byakuya Kuchiki stared at the young man who had the gall to challenge him in the first place not once, not twice, but three times now.

"What?" he spoke quietly, almost disbelievingly.

The young man was strange from his appearance to the gargantuan cleaver of a zanpakuto that he carried. He had orange hair which strangely seemed to still stick out in small spikes even when matted with the blood that had been spilled from the last attack. His shihakusho was torn at the top, hanging by one shoulder, revealing a toned body; muscles visible even under the many bandages that seemed to envelop his entire torso. His shoulders were slumped, indicating the strain it was taking to pull himself up, his blood splattered on the ground around him along with the scattered form of his opponent's zanpakuto.

"You heard me. Don't make me say it again." Though he had his face down, if there were any spectators, they could almost hear a smirk in Ichigo Kurosaki's voice. "Or don't you believe what you're seeing?" While he spoke, his words seemed to be gaining strength, as though he was giving himself the power to take down his enemy effortlessly.

"It's the truth even if you can't believe it."

Pulling himself up, Ichigo looked directly at Byakuya's eyes with his own amber-gold ones, a large smirk showing on his face as he proclaimed…

"I'm nowhere near finished, Byakuya Kuchiki!!"

* * *

_Forest under the Sokyoku Hill..._

The wind gently shook the leaves all around the trees, as though there were no battle being fought anywhere in the area. The grass barely moved as a figure strolled through, pausing periodically to turn their head, looking for something. In their gloved left hand was a broken wooden shaft with a metal weight on the end. As the figure moved forward, a spiritual pressure like a mountain came crashing down on him/her, telling the figure two things: one, that the one wielding this pressure was initiating their zanpakto's bankai (full release) and two...

'Looks like your boy is all grown up, Isshin. You and Masaki should be both proud to see him become such a strong person.'

As he/she thought this, a glint of light caught their eye. Turning their head, he/she saw what they were looking for: the other piece to the blade that he/she missed for so many years dug deep into a half buried boulder. As they reached the blade, their right hand gripped the broken shaft of the once great weapon and pulled it from the rock, the curved blade, still as sharp as the day it took on this form, shined in the afternoon light. Part in happiness at being reunited with his/her old friend and part in guilt for leaving him behind, he/she placed their head to the blunt edge of the blade as tears hidden by their mask and reflective lens covering their eyes.

"Soon, my friend, I'll bring you back to your great form and I'll never leave you again. I swear to you," a masculine voice spoke through the fabric, breaking slightly from his tears. "I only hope you can find it in your heart to forgive my foolishness and naïveté."

Suddenly, He felt Ichigo's spiritual pressure change. Snapping his head so fast he could hear several bones popping, he could only shake as he felt the energy shift from Soul Reaper to…

'So Kisuke, this has to be a first for you. You actually let optimism get in the way of your better judgment with the kid.' With that thought, the figure moved faster than shunpo (flash step), appearing on the ruined scaffolding in front of the dome of glowing swords surrounding two fighters. As Ichigo's head raised and looked at Byakuya, the figure gripped the wood tightly as he saw the forming mask of a hollow and an evil smile spread across his face.

'Isshin isn't going to like this at all when he hears of this,' the figure thought bitterly, 'I just hope Tessai and Yoruichi can restrain him from killing Kisuke for this.

'This isn't a hollow's spiritual pressure. It doesn't even belong to a vizard.'

The figure was about to jump down and slash that mask off when he saw then that Ichigo was tearing off the mask. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, he has it under control for now. Now, to gather the rest of the ingredients for your resurrection Soulfire Phoenix." he whispered as he disappeared.

* * *

**A few days later…**

_Old district ruins..._

"Everything's in order," the figure said as he lay down the broken remains of his blade. Standing up straight, he took a look around at the circle he created for the ritual. It was about 10 feet in radius, covered in symbols and words that seemed to belong to a culture from before the days of the Soul Society. At the center lay Soulfire Phoenix, the broken pieces lying in an 'X', ready to be reformed.

"Now, all we have to do is wait for the kids to go home and we can get this show on the road," he claimed, turning and walking out to the edge of the circle. Kneeling down, he placed his hands on the circle and waited for Ichigo's energy to vanish.

'I just hope that I can be forgiven, Master, and that I'll be able to do this without anyone interrupting me until this over' was his final thought as he felt the kids pass through the senkaimon (Tunnel World Gate) and began pouring his energy into the circle._

* * *

_

Sokyoku Hill...

"Well, now that the Ryoka are on their way home, we must take this time to prepare ourselves for Aizen's next move," proclaimed Head-Captain Shigenuki Yamamoto-Genryusai, the founder of the 13 Court Guard Squad and captain of Squad 1. The plan seemed to be agreed by all until…

The day started to bleed, darkness clouding over the sky almost instantly. All who were present were confused at such a phenomenon. Their confusion was short-lived however, because they all felt a tremendous pressure, which almost crushed them. Then, incredulously, Captain Kenpachi Zaraki smiled widely.

"Whoever's doing this has to be exceptionally strong," he shouted excitedly, "Come on, Yachiru; let's go find 'em!" And he began sprinting towards the source.

"Commin', Kenny" yelled the pink-haired lieutenant of Squad 11, jumping up onto her friend and captain's shoulder.

"We'd better follow him to make sure that he doesn't get in over his head," sighed Captain of Squad 10, Toushiro Hitsugaya, shaking his head of white hair before shunpoing after his colleague along with the other captains and lieutenants, except for Renji and Byakuya who felt the need to talk to Rukia first.

"Rukia, return to the mansion now," said Byakuya in a voice that left no room for arguments.

"Yes, brother," Rukia muttered in a worried tone. After all, her brother and oldest friend were about to run head first in to a force that might kill them.

"Rukia, I promise nothing will happen to us," Renji assured her. 'I just hope she doesn't follow after us.'

"Alright, but if you die, I'll find you and beat you to death," she said jokingly.

"Done." With that, they shunoed off to the source while Rukia headed off in the other direction.

"Was that necessary, Renji?" inquired Byakuya.

"If I didn't, she would have tried to come with us," said Renji "Ya know how stubborn she can be."

Before Byakuya could reply, something distracted them: a monstrous flaming bird rising from the ground and letting off a tremendous shriek, shaking the ground with its call.

"We'd better move, Renji."

"Right._

* * *

_

A little farther ahead…

"Captain, you look awful. What's wrong?" asked Matsumoto.

"It seems a little suspicious that as soon as Aizen betrays us and right after Ichigo and his friends leave, this happens," replies Hitsugaya "Also, did you see that bird?"

"Yes…" Matsumoto said slowly, not quite catching on.

"What did it look like to you?" Hearing this, Matsumoto thought before her eyes became as large as her chest.

"You don't mean…"

"If what I suspect is correct, we had better hurry," said Hitsugya as the firebird began spinning and went to strike the ground before it disappeared and the sky returned to its bright blue color.

* * *

_Old district ruins..._

Kenpachi arrived to see a figure in black, putting away a straight sword into a sheath tied diagonally across his back, handle poking from his right shoulder.

"Hey," he called. Hearing this, the figure turned to look over his left shoulder to look at the one calling him. "Don't put up that sword just yet." While he spoke, Kenpachi slowly drew his own battle worn blade, his grin growing at the chance to fight a strong opponent. "I want to test mine against you."

The figure turned to face him. His face completely covered by a mask, making it impossible to see his face.

"And what if I'm not interested in a fight? What if I just want to leave?" he called to Kenpachi, jerking a thumb over his shoulder.

The captain's face seemed to fall for a moment before making a smaller smirk.

"Well, if you're going to try to run from a fight, then, I'll just bring the fight to you!!" charging as Yachiru jumped from his shoulder. He swung his sword down closing in on the mysterious opponent's head as Captains Hitsugaya and Soifon of Squad 2 and their Lieutenants, Matsumoto and Omaeda arrived…

* * *

_Karakura Town, 1:00 a.m...._

The streets were calm as all the town's residents slept. The only one out at this late hour was a young man who looked to be around 18 years of age taking a stroll. He had silver hair tied up into a small ponytail, with bangs covering golden eyes set in a moderately attractive face. He was of slight built, wearing a light tan leather jacket over a dark blue shirt covering his torso, light blue jean pants on his legs while wearing brown boots. His hands were in his pockets, on his right wrist, there looked to be a set of black beads wrapped tightly it and going up his arm. Beside him was a black-furred dog, though it seemed more like a wolf than any dog. It had the same eyes as the young man, reaching his waist in height, with a collar made of the same beads as his master, trotting alongside him. The young man reached a street light and stopped, his dog pausing with him, glancing around, looking for any witnesses. Then, before him, the space began to distort and opened into a dark swirling vortex, yet the man remained unperturbed, even as someone stepped out of the vortex, panting heavily.

"Was there any trouble master?" asked the young man.

"Fist off, Yang, I've told you to call me by my name, and second, there was a slight hitch, yes," panted the man before straightening and taking a deep breath before speaking again. "That battle crazed captain Kenpachi saw me and decided to challenge, no force me to fight him."

"Were you injured, Master?" asked Yang, concerned for the man who was his teacher.

"No, although I had to use the "Sapphire Supernova" against him," admitted the master sheepishly.

"Please tell me that he's still alive," sighed Yang, putting his head in his hand, shaking his head slowly at his master's lack of foresight.

"There were others there, they took care of things. I'm sure the guy is fine," protested the figure.

"Anyway, did you get what you needed from the Soul Society?" Yang inquired, begging for a chance for some good news from this endeavor.

"Yep, I got Soulfire Phoenix back."

"So, judging by what you saw in the Soul Society, what do you think we should do next?"

"Aizen has moved to his base of operation in Hueco Mundo and taken the Hogyoku with him, so for now, we need to make sure that the current fighting force in Karakura is capable of holding out in the future."

"So, how do we do this?"

"Well, we know that anyone that Ichigo Kurosaki comes into contact with, they absorb the residual spiritual energy around him which, in turn, manifests as that person's own spiritual power, such as with Sado Yatsutora and Orihime Inoue."

"You believe there may be more that are currently developing their own powers." Yang wasn't asking any questions. After all these years, he knew how his master thought.

"Well, this is Isshin's son and _their _grandchild we're talking about, so it wouldn't surprise me if such a thing were possible."

"And you want me to follow him to mark off anyone around him that is showing signs of power."

"No, that would be too risky. You could be spotted, either him, the friends who are already aware spiritually or worse, any other Soul Reapers on patrol in the area, and that would lead to a very uncomfortable conversation. For now, just keep tabs on any of his friends as well as his sisters and see if it seems that they have a significant amount of energy. Any signs at all, hearing hollow calls, seeing spirits or better yet, Soul Reapers in Spirit form. That's a guarantee their power is manifesting to the closing point."

"And what of the boy himself? Where does he stand on this whole business?" This caused his master to become interested in his boots. The dog walked up and looked at him before whining to his partner. "Something tells me that there's more bad news than just the Captain Zaraki thing right? Please say wrong."

His master sighed then looked back at Yang. Yang personally hated that mask his master wore. It made him feel like there was something his master was keeping from him. "It turns out that Kisuke's 'little risk' in restoring Ichigo's power wasn't as little we had hoped. The level of the inner hollow he developed has evolved past what was anticipated and has taken the next step in the evolutionary chain."

This made Yang's eyes widen and his dog began to whimper while covering his eyes. "Easy, Yin," Yang reassured him before turning back to his master. "You're sure it's become that?"

"Unfortunately."

"So, what do we about this? He's very valuable to many people in both realms and I doubt Isshin will be happy if his son is harmed, especially after what Masaki did to protect the boy."

"It may not need to come to that. I'll personally watch out for any signs of his 'hollow' going wild. Then, if he develops enough, I'll confront him and see if he'll take _that_."

"You really mean to put the mark on him so soon?" Yang was dumbfounded. His master was impatient sure, but this; this was going beyond that, this was bordering pure insanity.

"If what I suspect is true, then that might be our only chance. Otherwise, the Vizard will try to make him follow their way and he may let himself get complacent and it could overtake him and then, the Soul Society will take personal action, no doubt by sending Soul Reapers he himself has befriended as an 'act of mercy.' We can't let that happen!" He proclaimed harshly.

"And we won't. Now go, master, we must act fast if we are to help him." Yang said with just as much conviction.

"We'll meet back here in a month's time and get an update on both our parts. Good luck on your part, Yang."

"As with you, Master Shadow." With these final words, Yin became a black mist and swirled around Yang until he was completely covered by darkness and merged with the shadows around them. Shadow squatted down and gathered energy before pushing out a pair of black leathered wings, similar to dragon's wings, from his shoulder blades before both jumping up and pushing down hard with his wings simultaneously, launching him into the night sky, and then, spreading his wings, took off flying.

'I wish you luck on the challenges that are to come for you Ichigo, and I swear that neither I nor Yin and Yang will allow you to die. Just as I promised her that I'd watch over you and the family she loved with all her heart, both in life and death.' With that silent vow, the mysterious winged man flew into the sky, blending with the night.

* * *

_**Next time on Shadows Are Raising:**_

"The time has come Yang. I'll talk to Ichigo tonight and see if he wants to listen to our proposal."

"I won't ask again. Who the hell are you?"

"I'm someone who wants to help you get your little 'inner demon' under control."

"You're not getting me to join you in whatever nut job group you're in."

"If you don't at least listen to what I have to say, Ichigo Kurosaki, you could put all those you love in grave danger. That power inside your soul is more destructive than you could possibly imagine."


	2. Chapter 1: The Center of the Spectrum

_**My strategy is to let out a bit of back truth at a time to keep the audience on their toes. Also, the story follows the anime, but won't include the Bount arc, since my OCs were only observing and it would take too long to write all the observations they made in greater detail. If anyone thinks I should change my genre for this story, review and tell me what you think it should be.**_

_**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to Bleach in any way, shape, or form. I do claim ownership to my OCs, however, so if anyone needs to borrow them for one of their stories, just send a review requesting the use, along with a basic idea of the story you're writing and the promise they won't be used as villains. I wouldn't mind if they were either made into anti-heroes or anti-villains, just no making them classic villains.**_

**-- TwinShadows**

**Shadows Are Rising**

**Chapter 1: The Center of the Spectrum**

**1 month later…**

_Karakura Town, late evening..._

Yang was rushing towards the meeting place that his master and he had set up to deliver the news, Yin running along side him. They had been observing things in Karakura for a month, and as it stood things were a mixed bag at best. The whole ordeal with the Bounts, he had to master his whole restraint not to follow in his master's common act of rushing in without a thought to the consequences. Now, things had taken a turn down the way his master and old friend had predicted.

'When he said that we had to move fast, I thought we would have a little more time than this. If we want this to work, we might have to take things sooner than what was supposed to be.' "Yin, let's step on it," he spoke to his companion, before both started booking and vanishing from sight.

They appeared to see Shadow leaning up against the same light they were at last month, his coat swaying as he stood up and faced the two newcomers.

"So, who do you have that has shown signs of spiritual power, Yang?" Shadow asked, strolling over to his student.

"As you expected, his spirit energy has influenced several people around him," Yang said, panting slightly.

"Okay… now I'd like a little more detail than that if it's not too much trouble," Shadow said, causing Yang to glare a little at him for overlooking the fact his student was still catching his breath from the long run to get here.

"Well, starting with his sisters," Yang began, "it seems that while both do have some spirit energy, Karin is the one who is most along as well as having more battle experience in fighting hollows, along with Urahara's kids, Jinta and Ururu, as well as one Don Kanonji."

"Wait a minute," Shadow interrupted, "Are you talking about that wacko on TV who claims to be a spiritualist, going 'BWAHAHAHAHA' all the time while doing this?" crossing his arms over his chest.

"That's the one," Yang muttered through gritted teeth, making it quite clear that he was irritated with being stopped from doing what was asked of him in the first place. "Anyway, Yuzu does have the sight, but not much else in the way of fighting hollows, though to be fair, her sister's favored weapon is her soccer ball; and since we already know Isshin's and Ichigo's power that wraps it up for family."

"So, is there anything on his friends at high school?"

"Ichigo has three friends to speak of with varying levels of spirit energy levels. Starting with the lowest, is Mizurio Kojima. He's always on his cellphone with his girlfriend who is older than him by a good 10 years. Most noticeable feature is that, while he seems like a nerd, he's quite the lady-killer. But no real signs of spirit power."

"Unless that is his power," Shadow joked.

Ignoring his master, Yang moved on. "The next one up is Keigo Asano. The most noticeable thing about him: he has way too much energy and does not know when to shut up. He and Ichigo have an interesting relationship."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean that whenever Keigo talks or even gets near Ichigo, he gets hit in one way or another. I swear, the guy just loves to say the first thing on his mind, and loudly at that, and Ichigo is right there to beat him down to be quiet. Not that I can blame him. I almost went down there to give him a hit myself a few times, he's that annoying!" Yang took a moment to pant again. Apparently, that particular part of the observation had placed a lot of stress on him.

"Do you need to take a minute to calm down before you continue?" Shadow asked, sounding worried since his student was usually a calm person. Admittedly, he wasn't like those stuff-shirts from the Kuchiki clan because he would willingly show emotions he felt from time to time and he could smile, but he rarely exploded like that.

"No, no I'm fine now. Anyway, he does have enough energy to see hollows and apparently, he has talked to a Soul Reaper who is in charge of watching the area. It might be possible that, with some more development and some serious training, he might, and I stress the word _might_, be able to fight hollows."

"Well, so far we have a playboy with a slim chance of spiritual power and an overactive monkey-boy with only a slightly better chance. I'm not feeling very confident with the options so far. Is there anyone else who could provide a better choice?"

"There is one other: Tatsuki Arisawa. She has been Ichigo's friend since both were four, so she has one of the closer bonds to him, as well as having a sister-like relationship with Orihime. She seems to have had her energy at an above average level since before Ichigo and the others went to rescue Rukia. She is also a black belt in karate and has earned the title '2nd strongest fighter in Japan.' The reason she didn't get 1st place is because she got hit by a car before her match."

"Very impressive. She sounds like she has potential."

"I should point out that she's also very protective of her friends and will do whatever it takes to protect them, including pummeling them into the ground as is the constant case with her beating a girl, Chizuru, from doing, ah… inappropriate movements to Orihime."

"So, aside from the overprotective streak and the temper, she's more than likely going to be a very useful player against Aizen."

"Now, there is a bit of bad news, Master." Shadow noticed that Yang was becoming nervous and kept looking over his shoulder.

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?" Yang still couldn't get used to how his mentor could read like a book while he needed Yin to drop hints for him.

"Every time you think that what you say next will cause the one you're telling to get angry with you, you look over your shoulder to see if someone is there to hurt you. You've been doing that ever since I met you. It's your tell. "

Sighing, Yang decided to just get it out in the open. "Today, Shinji Hirako joined Ichigo's class as a student. I assume that the Vizards are making their move to try to get him to join them."

Shadow turned away from Yang exhaled heavily, pushing his hands up his mask-covered face to the back of his head. "So, it looks like we have no choice then." Turning back around to face his student, he knew this would not go well with Yang.

"The time has come Yang. I'm going to talk to Ichigo tonight and see if he wants to listen to our proposal."

"Now, I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again for good measure: you're doing this too soon. We're not even sure if it will even work with his other tenant. Not to mention it can only be applied to a physical body, meaning he'd have to…"

"I know, but it's crunch time, Yang. If we don't at least warn him of the dangers, he could become a threat to all around him and then the Soul Society will have to take action against him. Do you really want to face Isshin if we allow that to happen?"

Yang hung his head in defeat. He knew about how much it would hurt Isshin to lose his son, especially after he lost Masaki to Grand Fisher nine years ago. He glanced down to Yin, who looked back at him before nodding to his partner. Sighing, Yang looked back to Shadow. But before he opened his mouth, both felt a surge of spirit energy from two different directions.

"Looks like things have become a little harder than we thought," Shadow stated, "As if Shinji wasn't enough, now we have to deal with an Arrancar."

"Maybe not, Master. Do you feel that?" At Yang's statement, Shadow focused harder and looked over at Yang, who suspected that he was smiling under his mask.

"Well I'll be, so Isshin is still going strong after all these years in that gigai(false body)."

"So, if Ichigo does decide to have the mark placed on him, will you train him to use it?"

"Eventually, but for now, you'll be the one to supervise him and his friends."

"WHAT?! Me?! Why?!" Yang was thrown off by this. He didn't expect that his master would be pushing this on him. He thought it'd be a few years before he took on a student of his own.

"Who better? You've been with me all you're life so you know how to train him in the styles that will help him in the battles to come," Shadow explained placing his hands on Yang's shoulders. "Besides, if he chooses this, then once the process is done, the Soul Society will no doubt sense my energy flux and report it to the captains. I'll have to go into hiding for a little while after that, so I won't be around after that. But I trust you will do a great job preparing them in my stead."

Yang couldn't help but smile at these words. Feeling this way at how much faith his master had in his abilities.

"Alright, no need to butter me up with those words, I'll do it. But I expect you to be back if there is any big trouble."

"No problem, just send Yin with the message and I'll be there quick as possible."

"Right. Seems like he's moving away from Shinji, so now might be the best time you'll ever get to confront him, Master."

"I'm on it. And would it kill you to call me Shadow or something other than master?" Shadow threw over his shoulder before he disappeared into the night.

'I wish I could call you the name I see you deserve, but it may be too presumptuous of me to call you as such without knowing if you see me as your opposite role…father.'

* * *

_A few miles away…_

Ichigo was flash-stepping as fast as he was able to, Zangetsu wrapped on his back. But as he was racing home, his mind was moving just as fast, thinking back to what had just happened with Shinji.

'What am I going to do? There's no way I'm like him, is there? But what about _him_ being inside me? What if…'

"Are you sure it's a good idea to be out this late on a school night? Even if you are doing you're job as substitute Soul Reaper?"

Startled out of his thoughts, Ichigo instinctively grabbed Zangetsu's handle, unraveling the cloth around the cleaver blade, and swung hard to his right where he heard the voice.

"Hey! I don't know about you, but I'm one of those people who enjoy having their head CONNECTED TO THE REST OF THEIR BODIES!!"

Looking closer at the person who was talking, Ichigo could only discern that this person had large leathery, black wings that occasionally beat to keep him up in the air.

"Well, if you don't mind, could we maybe take this conversation down to the ground or even just a rooftop somewhere? My wings are getting tired and I'm pretty sure you need to have some ground under your feet with how distracted you were a minute ago." The figure asked, making Ichigo narrow his eyes in suspicion.

"Sure," he said slowly, using flash step to drop down to a nearby streetlight. The stranger glided down to land crouching down in front of him, taking a few seconds to retract his wings into his back before standing up straight, bones popping slightly.

"Man it is always uncomfortable to pull those back in."

Ichigo took this time to look closely at the person before him. Now that he was in the light, Ichigo saw why he couldn't get a better look at the man: he was completely covered in black. He had on an open black leather duster that went down to mid-shin with a leather strap running over it, crossing from his right shoulder, where there was a sword handle peeking out, to the right side. The sleeves went to just above his wrists where he had on black leather gloves that went over his fingers. He wore a black shirt under the duster, where he had two different necklaces hanging from around his neck to rest in the center of his shirt. The first was a dark brown cord wrapped around a black, glassy stone shaped into an arrowhead while the other was on a chain with what appeared to be a dragon silhouette with the head sporting three spikes on each side of its head and the eyes cut out. Its wings spread and its tail pointed straight down to a point. His legs were in covered by loose black jeans, tucked into his black boots that went up to meet the end of his duster, the boots tightened by silver straps.

But what caught his attention the most was this guy's face, or rather the mask that completely covered it. Like the rest of his outfit, it was black and completely covered his face. It looked like regular cloth, though there was a faint line that cut horizontally across the middle of it. The place where his eyes were had been covered by reflective lens shaped in parallelograms at a diagonal, giving a slightly sinister look to the overall picture.

"Hey, kid. Stop wandering and come back to Earth," The stranger said, bringing Ichigo out of his thoughts and back to reality.

"Who the hell are you?" Ichigo wanted to get straight to the point. He'd just got away from that freak Shinji and he wasn't in the mood for another one.

"Well, how about you tell me your name first, Ichigo?" said the stranger.

"It's Ichigo Kuro- hey, wait a minute. You just said it!" Ichigo shouted angrily at the guy.

"You do have a point there," he said thoughtfully.

"I won't ask again. Who the hell are you?"

"Fine, my name is Shadow," Shadow replied.

"Alright, now how did you know my name before you even met me?"

"Two reasons. One, I've been studying you after Kisuke Urahara told me about you after you left to save Rukia Kuchiki."

"So, you've been stalking me?" Ichigo asked indignantly.

"Well, actually, it would be between spying on and observing you," Shadow replied casually.

"That's not exactly a better way of saying it, you know!" Ichigo practically screamed, while thinking 'this guy acts like its no big deal to follow people around. Maybe he works as a spy.'

"Well anyway, the second reason is because well, you're a bit of a celebrity in the spirit world." Shadow continued, obviously ignoring Ichigo's screams.

This threw Ichigo for a loop. "Huh? What are you talking about?" he asked, obviously confused.

Now it was Shadow's turn to be surprised. "You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're pulling my leg."

"No, not really."

Shadow sighed, hanging his head in exasperation, shocked at the boy's lack of attention.

"Listen, kid. Do you want the reasons in chronological order or for me to say them as I think them up?"

"Um, chronologically, I guess," Ichigo said, still shocked by the celebrity thing.

"Okay first, you are a human, a living soul with Soul Reaper powers. This means you can fight hollows that show up."

"Yeah, but that's part of the job," Ichigo pointed out.

"Yeah, but you're still technically a living soul, which isn't normal for the Soul Society. Secondly, your spiritual pressure is at a rank with, if not more than, most captains in the Soul Society. Not to mention that anyone you're close to will inadvertently absorb any residual energy you let off, which in turn develops their own spiritual powers, such as you're friends, Chad Yatsutora and Orihime Inoue." Shadow continued, until Ichigo spoke out again.

"Wait, have you been 'observing' them too?"

"No, by the time I started, they were already on their way of developing their powers, so there was no real need to," Shadow replied calmly. "Now, hold any questions until I'm finished or we'll be here all night."

"Fine," Ichigo conceded, begrudgingly admitting that this guy was right.

"Now this next one is a biggie so I hope that you understand the huge amount of street cred you get from Seireitei," Shadow said, holding up a finger to show the point he was making. "Although you were technically fighting with Uryu Ishida when this happened, it was you who faced a Gillian-class Menos Grande and sent its _cero_(doom blast) back at it, forcing it back to Hueco Mundo, which is usually left to be dealt with by the Special Forces division of Soul Society."

"So, there's no one else-" Ichigo started, before Shadow interrupted him.

"Didn't I just say to wait before questioning me? Anyway, after you lost powers to Byakuya Kuchiki, you went to the old mad hatter for training to restore your power, which you did, then with Chad, Uryu, Orihime, and Yoruichi, you went to save Rukia. This leads us to reasons four: going against the whole Soul Society for someone you love."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm not in love with Rukia," protested Ichigo, blushing heavily.

"The word 'love' simply refers to strong feelings for a person and I said that you loved her; I never said you were _in_ love with her, kid," Shadow pointed out. Ichigo opened his mouth to continue, only to close his mouth in astonishment at what the guy was saying.

'Damn, now he probably thinks that I really am in love her,' he thought, going even redder.

"So, moving on, another reason is because you have fought against several Captain-class Soul Reapers and ended up holding your own against them, including fighting that psycho Kenpachi Zaraki to a draw when he let out all of his power, and he's famous for becoming a captain because he killed the previous Squad 11 captain in a battle to the death." Shadow sounded like he was praising Ichigo at this point. "But that's nothing compared to this: you unlocking your bankai and beating Kisuke's record by at least a half a day."

Ichigo almost asked about the record being so important to his celebrity status, but felt that Shadow was giving him the warning glare behind his lens, so he kept quiet and let him continue.

'He said we'd be here all night if I interrupted, but I think I'm still staying out later than I had intended,' he thought annoyed.

"Now this one is one for the history books: you pushed back the, ugh, _Sokyoku_," he said, Ichigo noting that he had more than just a little bit of disgust in voice when he said the word 'Sokyoku', "which is supposed to have the firepower of a million zanpakuto, back with only your strength and destroyed the execution stands, which is supposed to be impossible to be done by a single individual."

"But the biggest reason is that, because of you and you're friends, Souske Aizen was revealed to be the manipulative monster that he really is to all of the Soul Society and for helping defeat Jin Kariya and the Bounts. So you see, you're pretty big to people in the Soul Society." The masked man concluded with spreading his arms wide open.

"Okay, now that you've explained why I'm important to the Soul Society, will you answer my questions?" Ichigo asked impatiently.

"Fire away," Shadow said with a shrug. "I've got nothing to hide."

"Okay, well first, what's a Gillian and aren't there others who have taken them down before?"

"Easy, there are three classes of Menos Grande: Gillians, Adjuchas, and Vasto Lordes. When a hollow first becomes a Menos, they become Gillians, the lowest rank. They're generally large and lumbering, with no real consciousness. But if they keep their personality after becoming Gillians, and eat enough of other hollows, they evolve into Adjuchas. These are generally smaller than Gillians, but a lot stronger than them. They usually eat Gillians and other Adjuchas, otherwise they go back to being Gillians and can't go back to being Adjuchas again. But if an Adjuchas-class eats enough, they become Vasto Lordes. These are the top dogs of hollows; they are all sized to be the same as regular humans, while retaining all the features it had as a regular hollow, but their power surpasses that of a Soul Society captain-class Soul Reaper. Now, to answer your second question, yes, there are others, like Captains Ukitake, Kyoraku, Unohana, and Head-Captain Yamamoto, but they have been around since the beginning of the Soul Society. You good so far?"

"Yeah, so, what is this impressive record of Mr. Hat-and-Clogs?"

"He attained and mastered bankai in only three days with the bankai doll you yourself used."

"Last question; what are you so interested in me for?" Ichigo finally asked the question he'd been meaning to ask since meeting this wacko. At first, Shadow just stood there, like he was trying to explain it the best way possible. Then…

"I'm someone who wants to help you get your little 'inner demon' under control."

Ichigo's eyes went wide and he held up Zangetsu into a defensive stance, ready for an attack. Seeing this, Shadow sighed, and started reaching for the hilt of his sword with his right hand. Ichigo tensed his muscles, ready to strike this man down if it was needed…

--CLICK--

Ichigo's head snapped down to Shadow's front to see his left hand had undone the clasp on the sword belt and had removed the sheath with the sword still in it and held it out to Ichigo.

"Make sure you give this back to me after we're done talking," Shadow ordered, pointing with his free to indicate he was serious, before tossing it over to Ichigo, who caught it with a stunned look on his face.

"Wait, why are you--"

"If I had really wanted to harm you, don't you think it would have made more sense to do so back when you had your mind elsewhere and didn't know I was there?" Shadow stated, crossing his arms and, at least that was how it sounded to Ichigo, cocked an eyebrow at the obvious fact that he himself had overlooked.

Ichigo continued to stare for a few seconds before, "Are you calling me an idiot?!"

"You said it, not me," Shadow pointed out. This caused a vein to start throbbing in Ichigo's forehead. Noticing this, Shadow pointed to it and asked, "Hey, how do you get that to pop out like that?"

"Enough with the crap. How do you know about that thing anyway?" Ichigo felt frustrated to be taken of focus from something that needed discussing, especially when the person who knew was one he had never met before.

Shadow put his hands in his pockets and sighed, letting his head roll backwards before answering. "We both know Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihoin, right? Well, I found out about the risks involved in his process in restoring your powers and I had a bit of business to take care of in the Soul Society anyway, so while I was there, I got a glimpse of your fight with Byakuya and, more specifically, when your hollow came out and decided to go wild."

"So now you're trying to get me to join you in some kind of weird organization," Ichigo accused.

"First, the Soul Society is pretty much the weirdest organization one can be party to, and you're already in that, and second, I never said anything about you joining anything, okay? You came to that conclusion on your own." But obviously, Ichigo wasn't going to hear any of it.

"I don't care what you say. You're not getting me to join you in whatever nut job group you're in." As he was preparing to take off, he turned to find Shadow looking directly(he assumed) at him.

"Since it seems that trying to be a nice guy isn't getting through to you, I have no choice," Shadow said gravely. "If you don't at least listen to what I have to say, Ichigo Kurosaki, you could put all those you love in grave danger."

Eyes wide, Ichigo found that he was unable to move. 'What is going on? Is he doing this, or do I want to listen?' Looking at the frozen young man before him, Shadow decided to continue.

"That power inside your soul is more destructive than you could possibly imagine, Ichigo. In fact, he isn't even a hollow anymore. The only good part is that you aren't a vizard like Shinji, though things would be easier if you were. No, you're something else."

"So- so what am I?" he sputtered out, Zangetsu almost falling out of his hands from the shocking news. It's not every day you hear that your being near someone could endanger their life, especially those you love.

"Before I answer that, I feel I should ask you if you know what an arrancar is," Shadow spoke softly, like he really didn't want to be having this conversation for reasons that would hurt the person he was talking to. When Ichigo shook his head, the masked man knew things were about to head even further down south than they already were.

"Think of Soul Reapers and Hollows as endpoints on a spectrum. If you move down the spectrum from Soul Reapers, you'll find the vizard. Arrancars are like the mirror image of vaizards. While a vizard is a soul reaper who gained a hollow's mask and powers, an arrancar is a hollow that, through the removal of most of its mask, gains a more humanoid form, the differences being part of the masks remain, they still have their hollow holes and develop _hierro_ or iron skin. In addition, they gain a zanpakuto, but unlike a soul reaper's zanpakuto which is a manifestation of the soul reaper's own soul, theirs is the manifestation of the powers that they had as hollows in the form of a blade. Should they call on those powers, they would regain most of their hollow form and use the powers they had as hollows. There are few natural arrancar however since it's generally Vasto Lorde-class Menos who can evolve naturally into this form, though there are exceptions to this. If a normal hollow has enough power to equal that of a Menos, they can become arrancar as well."

"What does this have to do with my hollow?" Ichigo asked hesitantly, not liking where this was going.

"Think back to when you were finished with the second part of Kisuke's training. When you got out of that pit, what was the first thing you did?"

Ichigo thought for a moment. "Well, I took the hilt of Zangetsu and broke off the mask that was on my face."

"And when you removed that mask, did you get all of it off or just most of it?" Shadow inquired.

Ichigo's thought hard at this before his eyes widened in realization. "There was a part left, but Urahara cut it off during the third part of the training. So, wait, it's impossible."

"Not so much as you might think. As I already explained, you have enough energy to rival a captain-class soul reaper, so naturally, if you became a hollow during Kisuke's training, you'd probably jump a few rungs on the hollow evolutionary ladder," Shadow explained. "If I had to make a guess, I'd say that your hollow's power would range from high Adjuchas to middle-to-high Vasto Lorde class menos."

"But, if what you say is true, then…"

"Yes, by removing your mask while having a hollow with menos-level power, you inadvertently caused yourself to shift directly to the center of the spectrum. You are a Soul Reaper-Arrancar hybrid, Ichigo Kurosaki."_**

* * *

**_

Next time on Shadows Are Rising:

"How am I supposed to protect the people I love when I'm a threat to them?"

"There's a way for you to get stronger and not have to worry about your other side."

"I'll do whatever it takes."

"Just so you know, this will be painful, but it can help you and your other friends in the long run."


	3. Chapter 2: The Mark of Oroborus

_**Thank you, Daricio for pointing out the flaw in my previous chapter. It has already been rectified to fit your advice, along with some modifications to the first chapter that I thought were necessary.**_

_**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to Bleach in any way, shape, or form. I do claim ownership to my OCs, however, so if anyone needs to borrow them for one of their stories, just send a review requesting the use, along with a basic idea of the story you're writing and the promise they won't be used as villains. I wouldn't mind if they were either made into anti-heroes or anti-villains, just no making them classic villains.**_

**-- TwinShadows**

**Shadows Are Rising**

**Chapter 2: The Mark of Oroborus**

_Kurosaki Clinic, 15 minutes after fight with Grand Fisher…_

Ririn was back in her bird doll, pacing around Ichigo's bedroom and wringing her wings in the frilly sleeves of her blue coat, worried out of her mind about Ichigo. The hollow he went out to fight was already cleansed, and the vizard had already gone, so he should have been back before her and Kon who was back in his lion-bear plushie body, currently lying on his side on the bed, reading a magazine. He wasn't exactly concerned about Ichigo; in fact, he was bored that they had to stay up waiting for him, especially after he had been chased by Grand Fisher for simply being in Ichigo's body. This nonchalant attitude was making Ririn more irritated by the second.

"WHY ARE YOU JUST LYING THERE?! Ichigo could be in trouble," Ririn yelled at Kon, though she made sure to make her voice wouldn't travel to Yuzu and Karin's room.

"Oh, will you relax? The guy can take care of himself just fine," Kon spoke, lazily picking his nose with the pinkie claw. "Besides, nothing is happening out there, so he probably took some time to take a breather."

"That's the reason I'm so worried," Ririn countered, jumping up and kicking Kon in the face with both feet. "If nothing's happening to keep him from coming back, then he should have been back here before us. Something just feels wrong."

"What's wrong is that the guy has no interest with finding a woman," Kon hopped up and started go into a fantasizing state before continuing. "One with such beautiful breast that when she sees me and holds me while telling him that she thinks it's cute for a to guy to keep his childhood toys, I'll be able to--" before Ririn took the opportunity to start hitting him with her wings.

"Ichigo isn't like you, you perverted idiot, so stop talking like that," Ririn spoke angrily, before giving him a final kick and turning away.

"Ugh, just cause he doesn't see you like that, doesn't mean you can take it out on me," Kon whimpered out, which he soon regretted because she started beating on him again by slapping him across the face.

"Will you just shut up?" Ririn screeched. After Kon fell backwards off the bed and lay twitching on the floor, Ririn turned back to the window and searched out Ichigo's spiritual pressure. Somehow, he hadn't left the same spot for a while, and something else which caused her to frown.

"Kon, come here. There's another spiritual pressure near Ichigo's, but it feels weird," she threw over her shoulder. Intrigued, Kon crawled up onto the bed and joined her, feeling out Ichigo's spiritual pressure, finding it and turning to look at her, tilting his head in confusion.

"So, what's the big deal? I was right that he stopped, how is that weird?"

"Well besides the fact that you were actually right about something for a change…" Ririn said turning to look at him with a smirk.

"Hey!" Kon said indignantly, before Ririn continued.

"There's another spiritual pressure next to him, which is the weird part."

"How come?" Ririn sighed. Sometimes, Kon's stupidity was just too much.

"It's strange because I've never felt one like this before. Not only don't I know who it is, but the energy feels… faded." She finished lamely.

"How can someone's energy feel faded?"

"I don't know, but that's what I can only describe it with in one word. It's confusing. It feels like someone is there, but it's like something is putting on a barrier around the spirit energy in whoever is near Ichigo. In fact," she said, turning to look at Kon in awe. "I'm sure that if I wasn't concentrating so hard, I would have missed him altogether."

This made Kon nervous. Since Ririn, Kurodo and Noba were mod-souls designed to track spirit energy, whoever could make one of them nearly him or her, could be dangerous.

'Ichigo, whatever you're doing, you'd better finish up soon. I don't want to think about what'll happen if you…' Kon didn't care to finish the thought. He knew what could happen, and he knew that no one would be happy with the worst case scenario.

* * *

_A few miles away…_

Ichigo had gone silent since Shadow had told him of what he had inside of him. He was breathing heavily, his eyes wide and his mind stuck on only one thought.

'I'm a monster, more than I thought possible,' Ichigo thought, his breathing starting to get faster. Shadow saw this and reached into his duster pocket, pulling out a paper bag.

"Do you want to use this, kid? We can't have you hyperventilating now," he spoke slowly, holding out the bag for Ichigo to take, forgetting that the younger man's hands were both full with both his sword and Shadow's. Ichigo slowly shook his head, but put up Zangetsu anyway, since he could tell that Shadow wasn't going to fight him.

"I'm sorry, I just need a minute to wrap my mind around this," Ichigo said quietly, looking down at his feet. Seeing that the bag wasn't needed, Shadow stuffed it back into his pocket for later.

"Listen, I'm not sure how I can make you feel better about this," he said, moving is gloved left hand to rub the back of his mask in uneasiness, "but you needed to know now so that you can be prepared for the future."

"The future?" Ichigo said slowly. "Why would I need to think about that?" He lifted his head to glare at the man who had just turned his whole world upside-down.

"So, that you will be better able to protect all those that you hold dear," Shadow said firmly.

"How am I supposed to protect the people I love when I'm a threat to them?" Ichigo asked angrily.

"You are not a threat, Ichigo, at least not yet," Shadow assured him. "While you have a different form of power in you, it's still your power. All you need to do is learn how to work it like you learned how to use bankai."

"You make it sound so easy."

"Anything can sound easy, Ichigo, but nothing that is worth learning actually is," Shadow waxed philosophically, placing his hands into his pockets again.

"Now, I have no choice but to join you, right?" Ichigo sighed disheartened.

"Are you still stuck on that? I told you, I could care less about what group you decide to join. All I want is for you to listen to the dangers of your new power and what you can do about putting it to good use," Shadow replied curtly, getting annoyed at having to repeat himself on this matter. "If you don't want to listen, just tell me and you'll never have to hear from me again. But if you want to hear about what can be done about this, like you have been so far, I can and will help you in any way I can."

Hearing this, Ichigo began to think. 'Well, he does know a lot on this matter. If he really knows a way that I can get his under control, maybe this can turn out for the better.' Looking back at the masked man, his face was set. "Well, I'm listening."

Shadow silently let out a breath that he had been holding. "There is a way for you to get stronger and not have to worry about your other side." This caused Ichigo's head to unconsciously lean forward to listen better. Shadow reached up to the right side of his duster and pulled it down. This showed that the shirt he was wearing was sleeveless, and more importantly, showed a tattoo between his shoulder and his chest. Ichigo leaned forward to get a closer look at it.

The tattoo was in a perfect circle, with two figures connected to form it, both going clockwise. The figure on the left going right was a phoenix, its feathered wings opened to the outside, talons pointing inside. Its head, topped with feathers going backwards along its neck, was at the top of the circle, while its long tail feathers were at the bottom. The opposite figure was a dragon, its leathered wings the same way as the phoenix's and its claws all like the talons, with spikes going along its spine The head, with six spikes coming out of the back, was positioned at the bottom, making it look like it was eating the phoenix's tail, while the dragon's tail, spade-shaped and seemed to be in layers, connected to the phoenix's beak. At the center of the circle, a five-point star connected the two at the phoenix's head, the top of the base of its wings, in the middle of its tail, the middle of the dragon's back and at the base of its tail.

"This, Ichigo Kurosaki, is the Mark of Oroborus," Shadow said solemnly, as though he were speaking of passing on the secrets of the universe.

"Well, this is an impressive and intricate tattoo and all, but I don't see how this is going to help with my problem," Ichigo said flatly, thoroughly unimpressed at the body art that was shown before him.

Shadow sighed as he straightened his duster back into place. "Fine, then I'll explain. Like you, Ichigo, I have too much power than I know what to do with. This mark's power is ancient, its origin coming from before the birth of the Soul Society. It helps me by monitoring how much of my energy is used at one time. So, if we were to put this on you…"

"I'd be able to control my inner arrancar," Ichigo said hopefully.

"Well, your spirit energy would be easier to control, yes," Shadow said vaguely. "So, you'd be able to use kido and sense other's spiritual pressure. Also, since your bankai is already based on the compression of your spirit energy giving you your intense speed, with the mark on, you'd only be able to go a great deal faster."

Ichigo's heart started to race, he had been sent a lucky break. He could actually get his hollow, no his arrancar, under control. No more worrying about being taken over. No more being afraid that he will put his loved ones in danger.

"Now before you get excited," Shadow continued, obviously sensing Ichigo's excitement, "you must know that because of the amount of power the mark has in it, the person who is going to receive it has to have certain qualities to them," he said, bringing Ichigo out of his thoughts.

"Like what?" Ichigo started to feel dread.

"Like having their soul in balance, or to put it another way, there must be peace with all parts of themselves."

"So what? Zangetsu and I are already tight," Ichigo said impatiently.

"True, but you and your other tenant aren't exactly seeing eye to eye, and you need all sides of your soul to cooperate, light and darkness," Shadow pointed out.

Ichigo was shocked to hear this. He had to be able to work together with that side as well as Zangetsu for this to work. 'Great. I find a way to protect my friends and family from myself, only to find I have to be able to get along with the thing I'm trying to protect them from. This is officially the second worst day of my life.'

"Don't get too discouraged, kid. It's not like you have to make him your new best friend," Shadow said hurriedly, "You just have to have an understanding between you to, like agree to disagree but without trying to kill each other."

"Can't I do this some other way?"

"Well, if you were a vizard, you'd need to fight him for dominance inside your inner world."

"I can do that," Ichigo said quickly, but Shadow held up his hand.

"Key word here, Ichigo, is _if_. But you're not. If you tried that, then all he would have to do is wait until you start to doubt yourself, and come out again. The only way for the mark to even be put on you is if you work together with him," he said with finality.

Ichigo sighed heavily at this. Now he knew this was the second day of his life. But he had to swallow his pride if he wanted his loved ones safe. "I'll do whatever it takes." He finally said with firmness in his voice. Shadow nodded.

"But could ya give me a minute? I need to talk to them and see if they agree," Ichigo asked, feeling a little nervous at the prospect of making a pact of cooperation with the psycho in his soul.

"Sure, go ahead. You'll have to do so eventually if you want to take the way I'm offering you," the masked man said with a casual shrug. With that, Ichigo closed his eyes and concentrated before opening them again.

Now before him, in place of the street light in Karakura Town, there was instead a group of buildings, with the whole world on its side, and the clouds going downward instead of left or right. Below, down at the base of the buildings, was a street center connecting all the buildings together.

Looking ahead of him, Ichigo saw, standing on the flagpole jutting out of side of the building like so many times before, was a man with flowing dark hair which reached to his shoulders. He looked to be in his forties, his eyes, dark behind his pointed shades, with scruffy stubble making a thin beard, shading slightly pale skin. His clothing was mostly a flowing black and red coat, ending near the ankles of his black boots, with a white collar open to show the top part of his muscled chest. Both his hair and coat flowed in a nonexistent breeze. He held an air of serious wisdom about him as he gazed down at his Soul Reaper partner.

"Hey, Zangetsu," Ichigo said casually. "I take it you heard about everything that's been going on between me and Shadow."

"_Yes I have, Ichigo, and what he is offering could prove useful for the future,_" Zangetsu spoke slowly. "_However, before we continue this further, you know we must wait for him, as this involves him as much as it does us._"

"I just hope he doesn't take too long to--"

"**Well, well, look who we have here,**" said an eerily high-pitched voice from behind Ichigo, making him turn around to look, his hand on the Zangetsu on his back.

Behind Ichigo was what at first looked to be a clone of himself. The difference however was that he had completely white skin and hair. His shihaksho was also different, since the colors of black and white were opposite to Ichigo's, as was the Zangetsu that was wrapped in black cloth on his back. But the most noticeable thing was the clones face. While it was shaped like Ichigo's, it wasn't showing the same expression. It was split into a large, maniacal grin, revealing black teeth, as were the eyes, black surrounding yellow irises. This was the one he Ichigo feared: the hollow, no arrancar that lived inside his heart.

"**So, Ichigo, what's this I hear about some way to keep me from commin' out to play?**" he said, cocking an eyebrow lazily.

"With the mark he's talking about, I'll be able to keep you from hurting those I love," Ichigo replied angrily.

"_Enough, both of you,_" Zangetsu interrupted before things could go further. "_Now, this decision won't just affect you, but all of us. But…_" Zangetsu trailed off at this.

"But what, old man?" Ichigo asked, confused at why his zanpakuto was hesitating with his thoughts.

"_I sense that we may be able to trust him. I am unsure as to how, but he feels familiar to me, as if I know him from another time._"

"**Okay, so it's official. The old man has finally cracked,**" the arrancar proclaimed, throwing his arms up into the air.

"Hey, just because you don't like how things are turning out doesn't allow you to throw a tantrum," Ichigo retorted. "Besides, why are you against this idea anyway?" At this, his white version frowned at him.

"**The same reason any other sane person would be, moron; I don't want to be shoved into the backseat while someone less competent that I am, is driving**_**,**_" he admitted gruffly.

"So just because you don't get anymore chances to try and take over me, you're going to disagree with us?" Ichigo was astonished at how crazy the guy in front of him was.

"**Yeah, why else? I ain't lettin' you get all the fun.**"

Ichigo was starting to get frustrated at this guy. All he wanted to do was fight, to prove that he was the strongest out of all. 'Wait, that's it.' he thought smiling.

"**Okay, what's with that smile?**" his arrancar said confused.

"You're an arrancar, right?"

"**I've been one since you broke the first mask you had, so what?**" he asked, still not getting it.

"Then you have a name, the name of your zanpakuto as an arrancar," Ichigo said triumphantly. "So, if you tell me that name, I'll be able to use your zanpakuto in battle."

"_Meaning that you will be able to fight and win against any opponent that Ichigo faces, making it so that you can prove that you're the strongest simply by being his second zanpakuto,_" Zangetsu spoke out for the first time in a while. Hearing this, the arrancar put a hand to his chin thoughtfully. Then, he smirked his wide smirk.

"**You two definitely drive a hard bargain,**" he said "**All right, looks like we're all for it**_**.**_"

Ichigo let out a sigh of relief hearing this. So far so good, now for the thing that would be more difficult to do: asking him for his name.

"So, will you tell me your name? I kinda need it if I'm gonna fight with you against any enemies we might face," he said hesitantly. His arrancar gazed at him lazily, silent as a grave. At first, Ichigo thought that he'd deny having one. Then…

"**If ya want to call me, say **'_Slash your foes, Luna Del Cazador(_**Hunter's Moon**_)_'_**.**_" He said finally.

Ichigo stared for a moment, processing what he'd just been told, before a smile crept onto his face. "Gotcha," Cazador smiled in the same way. Even Zangetsu allowed a small upturn of his lips.

"_Now go, Ichigo, tell Shadow that we are ready for the mark,_" Zangetsu said before Ichigo nodded and closed his eyes, opening them find himself back in front of Shadow.

"So?" the masked man asked impatiently. "What's the final verdict?"

"We're all ready to get your Mark of Oroborus," Ichigo said smiling. "Me, old man Zangetsu, and Luna Del Cazador."

"So, that's his name then? 'Hunter's Moon'? I like it," Shadow said, smiling impressively under his mask.

"So, how do we do this?"

"Well, first, you need to be in your body for this to work. Since you are a living soul, the mark will synchronize with your spirit energy, but since you're a Soul Reaper, you also need to be able to have it on both your body and your spirit form." Shadow explained. "So, while it's syncing with you, you can't become a Soul Reaper, or the results could become dangerous for both your body and soul. But afterwards, you'll be able to fight as a Soul Reaper again, same as before."

"So, how will I be able to fight hollows if I have to stay in my body?" Ichigo asked annoyed that this was taking longer than he originally thought.

"I have a very capable person in mind that can help with that; in fact, he has been with me for a long time. He knows as much as I do about the mark and its uses, so he can take care of you," Shadow said confidently.

"How will I know who this guy is when I see him?"

"He'll say that he knows me," Shadow said, "But, if that doesn't satisfy you…" he said seeing Ichigo's vein start to throb again, "…just ask him to show you where the black rose blooms. If he shows you a tattoo of one, it means that you can trust him; by the way, his name's Yang.

So, how about we get you back into your body and do this thing?" he concluded rubbing his gloved hand together.

"Well, my body's at my house, so we'll have to go there for this to work," Ichigo said scratching the back of his head in embarrassed. "Plus, since Kon and Ririn are there waiting for me, that will make things difficult for us. I guess I could go in first and get them out of their bodies, then we can see where things go from there."

"Now, you're talking," Shadow said pointing at him. Ichigo made to move to his house. "Oh, but before we go anywhere there is one little thing that needs to be done."

This made Ichigo pause before turning back, looking back confused. "What's that, man?"

Shadow held out his right hand, flicking his fingers back and forth in hand-it-over motion. "Remember earlier? What I expected back from you after we finished our conversation?" Then he motioned his head down to Ichigo's left hand or more specifically, the sword that Ichigo forgot he was even holding.

"Oh! Right, sorry about that," Ichigo said sheepishly, scratching his head with his empty hand before tossing the sword back to its owner.

"Well, it's understandable. You've had a big night so far, what with Shinji, finding out you're part arrancar, your friends and sisters knowing about you fighting hollows, so I get that you forgot about what happened before all this happened," Shadow said casually while putting his sword back on, not even noticing the powder keg he just set off.

"Thanks for being so understa--" At that instant, Ichigo realized what Shadow had just said. "Wait, what's this about my friends and sisters knowing about me fighting hollows?"

Shadow just stood there before slapping his forehead. "Right, I was planning on waiting until after we had done with the marking and leavin' a note on your desk telling this so you wouldn't feel the need to pummel me into the ground."

"You were spying on my family and friends?!" Ichigo growled angrily.

"No, of course not," Shadow actually sounded indignant. "You know the guy I was going to have train you after marking you, you know Yang?" Ichigo nodded slowly. "Well, that was his job." This caused Ichigo to fall face-first into the ground.

**Wow, this guy really has no sense of right and wrong, **Cazador said at that moment. **He is definitely my kind of guy!!** Deciding that he didn't want to deal with the crazier side of his soul at the moment, Ichigo got back up to glare at the masked man he thought was interested in helping him.

"So, what do ya have to say now? Any particular reason you had my friends and family followed for God only knows how long?" Ichigo said glaring at him.

Figuring the jig was up, Shadow just hung his head and decided to just come clean with the truth. "It's like I said before, kid. Your spiritual energy causes other people to manifest there own spiritual powers. That's the reason I wanted to keep an eye on them; to be sure which of those around you who were normal, were on their way to developing their spiritual powers."

Ichigo's eyes widened. "So the reason you had them watched was because…"

"Because I figured that, with two of your friends already having powers of their own, there was a chance that there could be more people with that kind of situation. And I was right."

"By-by how much were you right?" Ichigo stuttered, really not liking where this was going. Shadow held up his left hand, all fingers extended before continuing.

"There's a total of five people, all in varying levels of energy, both of your sisters among the total, though only Karin is the one that has actual battle experience while Yuzu has simply a strong sight," he explained, putting down two of his fingers, indicating that there were three more people to talk about.

Ichigo was really starting to sweat. 'If two were my sisters, then that leaves…'

"You mean that, Keigo, Mizurio, and Tatsuki all can…"

"Yep; In fact, Tatsuki is only a month or two away from unlocking her power. Keigo… well, he's next in strength, but from what has been gathered on him, I might not be surprised if Mizurio actually awakens before him."

This actually threw Ichigo for a loop. The friends he thought would never be involved in the business of Soul Reapers and hollows are closing in on the point where they would be risking their lives like him. Not only that, but his sisters knew of hollows; what's more, Karin was already fighting them. 'Great, this just went from official second-worst day of my life to a near tie with losing Mom.'

"I thought I was careful about all of this, that they were nowhere near me and would be able to live normal lives. Then something like this happens," he muttered while shaking his head.

"While it was noble that you wanted to keep them out of harm's way, putting them in the dark might not be as safe a place as you might think," Shadow spoke slowly, so that Ichigo wouldn't miss a word. "If they're in the dark and you have some dangerous enemies, those enemies could target them to get to you, and in the dark, it's that much easier to kill someone before they had even noticed they were targets."

Ichigo's body started to shake as he felt the urge to start ramming himself into a wall and keep ramming until he broke every bone his body over his stupidity. As much as it hurt him to admit it, he hadn't been doing what was right in order to protect them: tell them of the dangers that were around them. What's worse, if they really knew what he was doing, then they could be feeling betrayed by him because he didn't trust in them enough to let them into the circle.

"Oh, man. They must hate me for leaving them out in the cold," he sighed, hanging his head and feeling shame in his actions.

"Not yet, kid. Only Tatsuki had enough sense to put you together with all the craziness in Karakura, but she's waiting for you to tell her yourself, to show her that she's still as much a friend to you now as she was when you two were 4," Shadow said, trying to be comforting. Ichigo's head lifted up and stared at him.

"Just how thoroughly did your informant go to with his spying?"

"Well, it all depends on the urgency of needing the information. The bigger the urgency, the more thoroughly he investigates and the more info he digs up. Doesn't matter how deeply in the past its buried, he will find what he's looking for," Shadow said with a shrug, like it didn't bother him that he just told Ichigo that he basically knew the world's greatest investigator.

"So, I should probably talk to them soon, right?"

"Sooner, the better. Speaking of which, we had better move if we want to get the mark on you before daybreak." Shadow said, starting to run down the street at break-neck speed, with Ichigo using shunpo to catch up as they headed to his home.

* * *

_Kurosaki Clinic, a few minutes later…_

Ichigo climbed quietly into his room through the window, to avoid waking up his dad and sisters…only for Ririn to jump on him and start with berating him.

"Where were you, you big idiot?! I was worried sick about you, do you hear me?!" she said, crying slightly and hitting him on his chest in frustration. Ichigo looked at the mod-soul, smiling sadly at how he upset her.

"Sorry, guys; I just had something that needed doing before I got back," he said softly.

"Well, what were ya doing Ichigo? Scopin' out some hotties without me I bet!!" Kon accused. "How can you be so selfish, Ichigo, keeping all those luscious breasts—"

"Will you ever shut up, you pervert? You're giving the rest of us Mod-Souls a bad name, damn it!" Ririn stated while proceeded to beat up Kon.

"Hey guys, I'm pretty tired and I've got a big day tomorrow, so I think that for tonight, you guys should probably be outside of your bodies to stop the fighting for the night," Ichigo tried to reason with them, which sent Ririn into a rage at him instead (making Kon happy for the brief reprieve on his beating).

"Don't you dare lump me with him, ya hear?" she low-volume yelled at Ichigo.

"Please guys, just for tonight?" he begged. Ririn's face softened at this, sensing the young man's distress.

"Alright, Ichigo. Kon, hold still!" she said, grabbing the lion-bear into a headlock to steady him while Ichigo used his substitute Soul Reaper license to remove first Kon then Ririn from their dolls and placed the pills on his dresser for tomorrow.

"Thanks for understanding, guys," he said smiling slightly. Hearing a rustling from the window behind him, he turned to find Shadow getting off the bed next to his body. Moving over, Ichigo got back into his body and sat still on the bed, waiting for Shadow to start. "So, how long will this take?"

"Not too long, only a minute to set up and then, after a brief cooling period, you'll be able to alter the level of power you can use in battle at will," the mystery man replied as he moved over to Ichigo's desk and placed a black book on it before turning back. "Now, I'll need you to remove your shirt so that I can have the mark placed on your skin directly."

"What's that?" Ichigo said as he removed his shirt, indicating the book that now rested on his desk.

"Something I wrote on the mark. It's all you need to know on how to use it during and after the cooling period." Shadow walked over and clapped his hands together. "Now just so you know, this will be painful, but it can help you and your other friends in the long run. Are you, Zangetsu, and Cazador ready? It's not too late to change your minds."

Ichigo thought it over. Right now, this guy who he had never met before was about to put something on him which will contain nearly all his spirit energy and confine him to his body for who knows how long. On the other hand, he'd be able to use it to keep protecting those he loved. 'You guys ready for this?' he asked the two avatars of his powers.

_I'm ready to begin,_ Zangetsu replied solemnly.

**Let's rock this party**_**,**_ Cazador shouted in his head. Turning to Shadow, he said, "We're all ready, so let's get it this going."

Shadow nodded, then pushed Ichigo gently down onto the bed. "Now stay still. This is a very delicate process; if anything goes wrong…well, try not to think about it too much." Then, removing his gloves, bringing his hands together and taking a deep breath, he began chanting in a strange tongue that sounded like no language that Ichigo had heard before. As he continued to chant, his left hand started to glow white while his right glowed black. When it seemed to be getting near the end, he shifted his hands so that they were both parallel to the ground, his left hand palm-up with the thumb on top of the knuckle of the right index finger, while his right was palm-down with the right thumb in the center of the left palm, causing the two colored energies to intermingle. With one final "Kai!", he pushed both hands down in between Ichigo's shoulder and right pectoral.

The next moment, all Ichigo felt was pain. It took all of his willpower not to scream from the white-hot pain flowing into his veins. Then, he felt as though something was being pulled into his body at a high velocity. His body began to feel the weight of his own spiritual pressure crashing inside him as it constantly tried and failed to free itself from his form. 'Damn it, when he said this would hurt, he didn't mention the complete destruction it would have on all my nerve endings,' he thought bitterly, feeling himself slipping in and out of consciousness.

The next thing he knew, the pain completely vanished, only to be replaced by a feeling of, what could only be described as, great euphoria. His body felt lighter than air, and felt energy all around him as Shadow removed his hands from their place on his shoulder and stood up, putting his gloves back on. Ichigo turned his head to face him, eyes half-closed from exhaustion.

"Now, by tomorrow, you'll feel better than ever, so you'd better get some shuteye, kid," Shadow said turning to face him. "Oh, before I forget, there is one more precaution I should mention before leaving."

"Wha's that?" Ichigo mumbled.

"You must never be outside during times when light and darkness congregate simultaneously," Shadow said gravely. "If you do, it will prove most disastrous to you."

"Gotcha," Ichigo said, before closing his eyes and head rolled to the side, out like a light. With that, Shadow walked over the window and placed his foot on the ledge ready to jump…

"So, 20 years and you're not even gonna take the time to say hello to a friend?"

"I figured you wouldn't be interested in my coming here, Isshin," he turned to look at the former Soul Reaper captain before pointing a hand at the sleeping Ichigo. "After all, I did just place the Mark of Oroborus on him. Figured you wouldn't be interested in hearing me try to explain myself."

Sighing and shaking his head, Isshin looked at the masked face before him. "Are you guys going to watch out for him?"

"Not just him, all of them, Yuzu and Karin included."

"Well then, Shadow," Isshin said smiling, "I trust they'll be safe with you and Yang. Now, you'd better hurry before the Soul Society gets wind of this and decides to action."

With a nod, Shadow jumped out the window. Landing on the street below, he began moving before spreading his wings and taking off. Turning back to his son, Isshin sighed sadly and left the bedroom. 'I hope you're ready for this, Ichigo, because things are about to get a whole lot more difficult for you.'

* * *

_Soul Society, Squad 12…_

A red alarm went off in the monitoring systems. With this, Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi could observe things going on in the human world(or more likely, to find anyone he would find useful to experiment on). But when an alarm went off there, it meant that one of two things were happening: that either the spiritual pressure of someone that had been deemed a threat by the Soul Society had been detected or… the spiritual pressure of a Soul Reaper had dropped to the point where they were close to death. And right now, both situations were occurring in succession!

First there was the rise in energy from the mystery man from after Aizen's treachery was revealed, who battled Captain Zaraki without drawing his blade, then escaped to the human world and disappeared when the Bounts attacked. But up until now, he had been at the back of everyone's mind, except for Zaraki who still had a hard time dealing with it. But now, after the flare in pressure, the spiritual pressure of the substitute Soul Reaper, Ichigo Kurosaki, had dropped to near nonexistent. Seeing this, Rin Tsubokura ran out to get Lieutenant Nemu Kurotsuchi, the captain's creation and daughter.

"Lieutenant Kurotsuchi!" he called out over and over. Finally, a young woman with a long braid, an emotionless face, and a short skirt shihaksho with her hands clasped in front of her, came into view.

"Yes, what is it?" she asked in a monotonous voice. Rin panted slightly before answering.

"This just came in. I believe it's urgent that the captain needs to see this," he said, holding out the report which Nemu took and looked over, before her eyes widened.

"I will deliver this to Captain Kurotsuchi immediately," she said before speeding to her father's lab. Knocking on the door and waiting until after hearing the, "Come in, I don't have all night," she opened the door and hurriedly stepped inside.

Sitting in a chair before a wall of monitors, was a man with bone-white skin, the only parts that weren't were the black circle in the middle of his face and his blacked fingernails, the middle one on his right longer than the others. He had what appeared to be a hat that was placed sideways on his head and strange yellow coverings on his ears and on his chin, like a small beard. His zanpakuto set in between his legs, his shihaksho and hiaori rustled as he swiveled in his chair to face Nemu, glaring at her with yellow eyes.

"Well, what is it, you worthless experiment?" he sneered. Nemu simply handed the report to him, not wanting to incur her captain/father's wrath, as he snatched the report and examined it closely. Slowly, his face split into a wicked grin. "Well, well. This is interesting. Nemu," he said suddenly, turning to his creation. "Tomorrow, I want you to inform the Head-Captain of this update and that all other Captains and lieutenants should be there to hear this."

"Yes Captain," she said quietly, bowing slightly before taking her leave, leaving Mayuri Kurotsuchi alone with his thoughts.

'Things are about to get most interesting,' he thought wickedly before turning back to his monitors._**

* * *

**_

Next time on Shadows Are Rising:

"Looks like I don't need to work with you to get my inner hollow under control anymore, Shinji. I had some help already."

"Tats, I need to talk to you, Keigo, and Mizurio. Can we meet all meet up at lunch?"

"What do we do about this?"

"I am Yang."

"I am here to help you, all of you, to become stronger."


	4. Chapter 3: Meet Your New Mentor

_**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to Bleach in any way, shape, or form. I do claim ownership to my OCs, however, so if anyone needs to borrow them for one of their stories, just send a review requesting the use, along with a basic idea of the story you're writing and the promise they won't be used as villains. I wouldn't mind if they were either made into anti-heroes or anti-villains, just no making them classic villains.**_

**-- TwinShadows**

**Shadows Are Rising**

**Chapter 3: Meet Your New Mentor**

_Kurosaki Clinic, 6:30 a.m._

Ichigo stirred as his eyes slowly fluttered open. Feeling a dull pain pulse in his temple, he put his hands up and rubbing his forehand to lessen it. 'Oh, man. My head is throbbing. What hit me last night?'

**Wow, I knew ya weren't the brightest bulb in the hardware store, but come on! How can ya just ferget somethin' as big as last night… partner?**

Hearing this, Ichigo shot up, eyes widened. "What the hell?" he said loudly, looking around before remembering last night and the name of his new fighting partner. 'How are you still talking to me? Didn't Shadow say that you'd be unable to take over if I got this mark on me,' feeling tricked.

**He did, but he didn't say I wouldn't be able to talk to ya. So now, you and I can talk to each other as much as I want and ya can't stop me.**

'Well, that's just great,' Ichigo thought as he started to get out of bed before he felt something. Spirit energy was all around him; he could sense some of the others across town. It wasn't something he usually felt unless it was humongous like with Kenpachi. "So, this is how it feels to sense spirit energy," he said in wonder, before hearing the pounding of feet down the hall.

**So, here comes that wacko dad of yours to wake ya up, huh?**

'Yep. Don't worry, you'll get used to it… eventually.' Right then, his bedroom door flew open and a middle-aged man with dark hair and a scruffy beard, wearing a doctor's coat over a yellow with pink-flower print and brown slacks flew into the room, both dark-grey sock-covered feet extended out towards Ichigo.

"GOOOOD MORNINNNG, IIIICHIGOOOO!!!!" Isshin yelled at the top of his lungs. His son neatly sidestepped his father's attack before grabbing one of his father's arms and used the momentum to throw Isshin into the wall.

"You know, it wouldn't kill you to just knock on my door and call me instead like a normal parent," he called over his shoulder as he grabbed a set of clothes and a towel before heading to the bathroom to take a shower.

"I'm so proud of you, my son! I have nothing left to teach you!!" Isshin called out as he slid down the wall.

When Ichigo entered the bathroom, he decided to look in the mirror and see the how mark looked. At first glance, it looked a lot like the one that Shadow had shown him last night. The shape of a circle, the phoenix and dragon connected to each other by their tails, their wings extended. But unlike the one Shadow had, at the center where the pentagram was, there were now two crescent moons back-to-back, the left one was white with a black outline, the right was completely black.

"Whoa, I thought that he gave me his mark," he wondered aloud.

_It would seem that the center of the mark is meant to be different for each individual who bears it._ Zangetsu theorized.

**Well, if ya ask me, it ain't exactly original. Why couldn't we have fangs in the middle? Now **_**that**_** would be cool looking, right Ichigo?**

'Honestly, as long as it does what Shadow said it would, I don't give a damn how it looks.' Ichigo said before getting undressed. Moving to the shower, he turned the nozzles until he thought the water was comfortable enough to get in and start washing up.

While he was washing his hair, he began to think about his friends. 'I was so stupid. Keigo saw me when I fought that Bount after he was attacked by the Bitto. And yesterday, Tatsuki asked me about my license when Ukitake said that no normal human would be to see it. That should have tipped me off.'

**We get it. You're an idiot. Now that you know they know, maybe you should focus on figuring out what you should say to them when you see them again. Not to mention your sisters.** Cazador interrupted. Ichigo stood confused for a moment before talking. 'Okay, who are you and what have done to the battle-crazed psycho who lives in my head normally?'

**Hey, I have my moments.** Before Ichigo could talk any further, a knock came from the other side of the door.

"Hey Ichigo," came the dull drawl of his little sister, Karin, "hurry it up in there. Some of us need the hot water to clean up too."

"I'll be right out," Ichigo called out, before rinsing out the rest of the shampoo for his hair and turning off the water. Grabbing the towel he brought, he quickly dried off and put on his clothes before heading out the door...right into the flying kick his dad was waiting to deliver, which ended up with both of them tumbling down the stairs.

"Hahaha, Ichigo. You shouldn't get too complacent, for danger is around--" before Ichigo slugged him in the jaw.

"DAMMIT OLD MAN, WILL YOU GIVE IT UP??!!" Ichigo yelled. A young girl with chestnut-colored hair wearing a sundress under an apron came from the kitchen with a bowl and spoon in her hands.

"Dad, you shouldn't be fighting Ichigo. You're getting too old and you could hurt yourself," Yuzu said with a slight frown on her round face. Hearing his daughter, Isshin sprang back onto his feet with tears streaming down his eyes.

"Oh, Yuzu, you're so sweet to your dear ol' dad," he shouted out. Strolling out of the kitchen was a girl with straight black hair and a bored expression on her face. She was dressed in red shorts, a white t-shirt and a black sleeve-less shirt on top of that. Under her arm was a soccer ball.

"Nice going, Yuzu, now he's never going to shut up," Karin said to her twin. This resulted with their nutty father running to a memorial poster of a smiling woman with dark red hair, 'Masaki Kurosaki' written at the bottom.

"Oh, Masaki, our family has grown apart. Karin and Ichigo have become harsh to me. What should I do?" Isshin sobbed, his hands pressed against the base of the poster.

"How about ya act your age, dad?" Karin asked sarcastically. Then, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Ichigo looking down at her. "What is it, Ichigo?

"After school, Karin, you and I need to talk about some things," he said seriously, causing his sister's eyebrow to rise up.

"Why? You're not actually feeling sorry for the old goat, are ya?" she asked, glancing at their father still sobbing on the floor. Ichigo chuckled at the question.

"Not even close. But there are some things that I feel we need to talk about nonetheless," he said. Then, leaning closely, he whispered, "It's about your little runarounds after the monsters in white masks." Hearing this, Karin's eyes widened slightly. Looking at her big brother, she nodded silently, stunned he knew this. Seeing Karin agree, Ichigo smiled and turned to Yuzu. "Hey Yuzu, we'll be a minute so you better get ready for school yourself."

"No need to remind me, Ichigo. But you guys had better hurry before breakfast gets cold," she smiled, walking back to the kitchen. Ichigo walked back upstairs to his room and grab his bag. Looking over at his desk, he saw the black book Shadow left there before putting the mark on him. Reaching out, he grabbed it and held it closer to take a closer look at it.

The cover was black leather, with no title on it. Apart from the Mark of Oroborus imprinted upon on the front, it looked completely boring. Flipping open the pages, he saw it was handwritten in English with several pages having pictures drawn showing different movements and instructions on how to apply them to kido. 'Whoa, this guy went all out with writing how do to this stuff.'

_Perhaps, Ichigo, it would be beneficial for us to bring this book with us. If this Yang comes looking for us, he may ask us for this to help with training with the mark._

'Yeah, you're right,' he agreed, thinking how foolish he might seem if he was asked to show the book and tell this new teacher he forgot it at home. Stuffing the book into his bag, he sped down the stairs to the kitchen for breakfast, being careful to duck under his dad's "Flying Kick of Doom". After quickly eating his breakfast so to avoid his dad's annoying questions, he grabbed his bag, called out "Later, guys!" over his shoulder and headed out the door to school, still trying to figure out how he'd explain things to Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizurio._

* * *

__.…_

Karakura High School, 8:00 a.m

While sitting at his desk, Ichigo decided to try out his new energy sensing. 'Okay, so how do I find a person specifically?'

**Hey, here's a crazy suggestion… how about ya think of the person yer lookin' for and see if the energy matches their personality?**

'Why would their spirit energy match their personality?'

**Gee, I don't know. Maybe 'cause when ya first felt Zaraki's spiritual pressure, it was as thick with bloodlust as his mind is. **he replied sarcastically, which made Ichigo frown.

'Ok, ok, no need to get nasty,' he said, before closing his eyes and concentrating on his friends. 'First, let's check out Chad.' Thinking of Chad's personality, he felt energy that seemed soft, but with a raging force behind it. 'Yep, that's Chad. So, now to get a fix on Uryu's spiritual pressure.' He had a harder time with this because of Uryu's diminished Quincy powers. After a couple of minutes, he felt a spiritual pressure which felt similar to a computer in the process of calculating. Opening his eyes, he followed the trail to his left where Uryu was sitting, deep in thought. Then, he felt a sort of bubbly warm spiritual pressure next to one he didn't recognize.

"Hi Ichigo," Orihime said, smiling and waving excitedly, her long ginger hair swaying as she did so.

"Hi, Ichigo," said a young man with shoulder-length blond hair and a wide smile which showed all his teeth waved alongside her. This caught Ichigo off-guard.

"Hey Orihime, hey Shinji," Ichigo said, a little edgy to see the vizard who tried to convince him to join him last night. 'I thought I was clear last night that I didn't want to join him.'

**Guess he just can't take a hint.**

"Hey, Orihime, have ya seen Tatsuki? I have to ask her something important," he asked her. Pausing, Orihime put her index finger to her chin in thought.

"Uh, I think I saw her downstairs near the gym, but I'm not really sure," she said thoughtfully.

"I'll try there, thanks," he said before turning to Shinji. "Hey, Shinji, would ya mind helping me look for her?" Shinji blinked with astonishment, before nodding slowly. "Thanks, let's go." Ichigo said before leading the other boy out of the classroom. Out of nowhere, a boy with shoulder-length, wavy brown hair and a freaked-out expression o his face popped out of nowhere.

"What's going on here?! Why's Ichigo hangin' out with that weirdo? WHY?!"

Keigo shouted, flailing his arms as another boy with short black hair typed a message into his cellphone.

"Maybe he's trying to be nice to the new kid, Mr. Asano," Mizurio said casually, not even glancing up at Keigo, who snapped his head to look at him with exaggerated tears running down his face.

"Why do you mock me, Mizurio? I thought that we were friends," he wailed. The whole time this was happening, Orihime was staring at the door, worried about Ichigo and what he needed to talk to Tatsuki about.

* * *

"So, that was pretty clever of ya, Ichigo," Shinji complimented, throwing a smirk at the young man walking next to him, "Pretending to look for your girlfriend so ya could talk to me."

"First, Tatsuki isn't my girlfriend. Secondly, I wasn't pretending, Shinji, I need to talk to her," he said, turning to glare at the blonde. "But since I saw you still hanging around, I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and ask you why you're still hanging around here. I already told you I'm not going to join you guys." This caused Shinji to drop his smile, though his upper lip was curled upwards to show his teeth, and look at Ichigo scathingly.

"You honestly thought that I'd give up so easily? Please, even if you try, eventually you're going to go mad trying to keep your hollow in check. Then you'll have to join us to save those friends of yours."

Ichigo's lips curled up a little and he let out a small chuckle. "Well, you obviously aren't as smart as you think," Shinji cocked an eyebrow at this. Turning to look at him, Ichigo felt his smirk grow at the look of confusion on his face. "Looks like I don't need to work with you to get my inner hollow under control anymore, Shinji. I had some help already."

Caught off-guard by this, Shinji stated the first question that came to mind. "Who is it?"

"Sorry, I don't think you know him," Ichigo replied, picking up his pace. "So, I'll say it again: don't come near me or my friends trying to get me to join you guys again." With that, he walked downstairs to look for Tatsuki, leaving Shinji with his thoughts.

* * *

**I still say ya should've pummeled him to make sure he didn't try anything.**

'Yeah, that's a good idea, fight the vizard posing as a student in broad daylight when I can't even use my Soul Reaper form. Good plan, Cazador,' he thought sarcastically. After he reached the bottom of the stairs, Ichigo cut across the courtyard, heading towards the gym when he heard his name being called. Looking around, he saw a teenage girl with dark, spiky hair walking up to him. "Hey Ichigo, Orihime said you wanted to talk to me." Tatsuki said as she came close. "So, what's up?"

Ichigo sighed, he still didn't have any clue on what he was going to say. Finally, he decided to ask for more time. "Tats, I need to talk to you, Keigo, and Mizurio. Can we meet all meet up at lunch?" Tatsuki just blinked, then shrugged.

"I guess, but I thought it might be important than more than that. Orihime said you were thinking pretty hard when she saw you," she said before smirking. "You didn't break your brain thinking too hard, did you?"

"No, and it is important," Ichigo said hotly before looking off to the side. "It's just that what I need to tell you guys about is really hard to put into words and I want to be sure I get this right." Noticing how nervous her oldest friend looked, Tatsuki decided to drop the jokes.

"Okay, Ichigo, I'll see ya at lunch. Meet us at the rooftop, I'll make sure they're there too," she said before waving to him and heading to the classroom. Smiling, Ichigo started walking back to class as well.

* * *

_a few__ hours later…_

**OH MY GOD, KID, HOW CAN YOU STAND THIS TORTURE?!?! HOW?!**

'What's with you? You've been complaining nonstop for the past hour. It's just math,' he thought, annoyed that Ms. Ochi might catch him not paying attention to her lecture.

**Exactly. IT'S BORING!!! We need to get out of here and find a fight already.** It was then that Zangetsu decided to put in his two cents.

_Just because you cannot focus on anything that is not battle-related for less than an hour does not mean that it is unnecessary for Ichigo to learn._

'Look, if it's all the same to you guys, I'd like this conversation to continue after class, when I'm not risking my grades,' he said, putting an end to the fight as the bell rang, signaling the beginning of lunch break. Putting his books away, Ichigo turned and walked over to Uryu as he collected his books. "Hey, Uryu."

The bespectacled former Quincy glanced over at him with a slightly scathing look. "What do you want, Ichigo?" he said curtly.

"Well, we haven't seen you much since the incident with the Bounts, so I thought I'd come invite you to lunch. My treat," Ichigo said with the traditional frown on his brow and a smirk. For a minute, Uryu just stared at him before shrugging and getting up to leave.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," he called over his shoulder. Ichigo sighed. 'Translation: "Thanks for thinking of me." Now, to get the hard part over with.'_

* * *

_

The roof of the school building, a few minutes later…

"Hi everybody," Orihime called out. "Who wants to try my soba with honey, lima beans, honey-mustard, and red bean paste?" she asked excitedly, holding out the weird dish for all to see and, she thought, would enjoy. Everyone stared at it with varying looks of barely concealed disgust on their faces.

**Hey Ichigo, was she born without any taste buds? Because that can't be good for you.**

"It looks delicious, Orihime, but we all brought our own food, sorry," Tatsuki said, a forced smile on her face. Then, turning to Ichigo, she swapped it for a serious look. "So, what is this important thing that you need to tell me, Keigo, and Mizurio?" This was met by everyone looking at Ichigo in confusion, Chad, Uryu, and Orihime included since Ichigo hadn't had the time to tell them what he was planning to do.

Sighing, Ichigo looked at everyone and spoke. "I think it's time you three knew the truth about what the rest of us have been doing ever since last summer." Chad's eyes widened, Orihime gasped, and Uryu gave him a look that said 'Are you crazy?' Keigo and Mizurio just looked confused and Tatsuki was leaning forward, not wanting to miss a single word.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Ichigo?" Chad said finally, his low voice showing worry. Ichigo looked over at him and showed a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, Chad. I'm sure this is the right way," he said before turning back to the three friends he knew they had neglected for so long. "So, do you guys remember Rukia Kuchiki?"

"Of course! Who could forget such a godd--," Keigo started ranting before Tatsuki kicked him in the head.

"Will you shut up?! This is important!" she shouted. While waiting until the two were done, Ichigo looked over at the others who were still on edge about this. They all knew that once the secret was out, then their three friends would become potential targets for Aizen. Turning back, he saw Tatsuki and Keigo sitting back down, the latter with multiple bruises and bumps on his face.

"Well, she's not from around here, not just from a different town, but from a different world called the Soul Society…"

* * *

_Seireitei, Squad 1 ,Captain's Meeting Quarters…_

To the captains and lieutenants of the 13 Court Guard Squad, saying this morning was expected to be hectic was to be considered the understatement of the new century. Head-Captain Yamamoto had called an emergency meeting for all remaining captains and lieutenants to discuss an unknown matter. This peaked the interest of those summoned, since they just got through with the Bount problem just recently.

"Hey, Captain Kuchiki, what do you think this big emergency is?" Renji asked as he and Byakuya stood at attention, waiting for Yamamoto and his lieutenant, Chojiro Sasakibe to arrive.

"If I knew that, Renji, I would not be wondering that myself," replied Byakuya, giving his lieutenant a look that plainly said 'Stop asking stupid questions,' as the captain and lieutenant of Squad 1 entered the room and faced their colleges.

"Captains and lieutenants of the Soul Society, although we have been able to defeat the Bounts, last night a possible greater threat has emerged from the Human World," Yamamoto said in a voice that showed his age, yet let it known that he wasn't the head of the 13 Court Guard Squads for nothing. Turning to the Squad 12 captain he said, "Captain Kurotsuchi, I want you to give the rest of your fellow captains what you reported to me this morning."

Moving to the center of the room, Mayuri looked down at he report he had prepared for this meeting before beginning. "As you're all aware, a month ago after the ryoka left for the human world, we found another intruder, one who left before we could gather any useful information on him. I'm sure I don't need to remind you of this, do I Captain Zaraki?" he said pointedly; it was common knowledge that the captains of Squads 11 and 12 hated each other. This statement was met with a growl from Kenpachi.

"Captain Kurotsuchi, I will ask you to get to the reason of this report," Yamamoto said, letting everyone know he wasn't in the mood for games. Bowing in apology to the head-captain, Mayuri continued.

"Well, last night, our sensors detected a large spike in this intruder's spiritual pressure; though it was brief, it indicated that he was in Karakura Town." This made all of those present to stiffen in shock. "However, that isn't what would be considered the worst part." Now they were all tense, after all, how could things get any worse than knowing someone who was a potential threat to the Soul Society was already in Karakura Town?

"After the spike of spiritual pressure faded, the sensors indicated that the spiritual pressure of the Substitute Soul Reaper, Ichigo Kurosaki, had diminished to the point where it's nonexistent." If the captains and lieutenants were shocked before, now they were staring in fear. It was Renji who broke the silence, asking the question that everyone was afraid to ask.

"Captain Kurotsuchi, does this mean that Ichigo is… is…" he couldn't even finish his question because for fear of the answer. Seeing everyone's apprehensiveness, Kurotsuchi chuckled.

"Oh no, he isn't dead. When I said that spiritual pressure has diminished, I was referring to the spiritual pressure's _quantity_, not the strength of it," he corrected, "If I had to guess, I would say that someone placed a cloaking around Kurosaki's spirit energy to keep us from being able to track him."

"Yamamoto-sensei, what do you think we should do?" Ukitake asked ,turning back to the head-captain, who was in deep thought.

"Our original plan was for Captain Hitsugaya to take a team to the Human World to prepare for Aizen's next move," he said slowly, "However, this new development has brought a question as to whether one captain is enough for this mission. Captain Soifon."

"Sir," responded the twin-braided, female captain of Squad 2.

"With the sighting of our previous intruder in Karakura Town, I'm assigning you to the team as an extra precaution, in case he tries to interfere with our mission," he said seriously. "Captain Hitsugaya, I expect those you wish to accompany you with Captain Soifon to be at the senkaimon by tomorrow morning. Until then, you are all dismissed."

* * *

_Karakura High School Rooftop…_

"So, Rukia gave you your Soul Reaper powers so that you could protect your family and then you took over her job until she got her powers back," Tatsuki said. Ichigo nodded.

"Then, you guys got powers from Ichigo being near you for so long," Keigo continued where Tatsuki left off. "Except she was taken back to the Soul Society to be executed, because it was illegal for a Soul Reaper to give his or her powers to a human." Chad and Orihime nodded, Uryu just pushed up his glasses, muttering, "I didn't need Ichigo to get my powers."

"Then, you all went off with a talking cat to save her, only to find out that it was all a setup by one of the captains trying to get something that would help him conquer the world," finished up Mizurio. All four nodded this time. Silence followed, the air tense with anticipation of what the newly informed three would take it. Then…

"THAT'S INCREDIBLE!!!" Keigo shouted out. "MY BEST FRIENDS HAVE SECRETLY BEEN SUPERHEROES, PROTECTING THE WORLDS FROM BEING DESTROYED BY MONSTERS AND PSYCHOS, I FEEL SO PROUD OF YOU ALL!!!" Before he could continue with his emotional speech however, his jaw had an emotional moment with Ichigo's fist.

"The way you're talking sounds like something that my psycho dad would say," he said calmly as he retracted his fist and sat back down.

"Well, he's got the right idea, Ichigo," said Mizurio, who didn't have his cell phone out for a change, staring at his friends. "I mean, you have all been having these amazing adventures while the most exciting thing we've been doing is pre-calculus."

Looking over to Tatsuki, Ichigo saw her just sitting there, staring at the untouched meal. She hadn't spoken once the whole time he had been talking, from the first meeting of Rukia through the fight with the Bounts. He glanced over at Orihime, since she has been Tatsuki's friend for as long as he had, and saw she just as nervous at what she would say as was. Taking in a deep breath, Tatsuki turned to look at them before speaking.

"What made you decide to tell us if you didn't want us involved to begin with, Ichigo? From the looks that Orihime, Chad and Uryu have on their faces, they had no idea that you were planning this." Once again in as many minutes, all eyes were on him, waiting for his answer. Figuring that he was going to have to face that question sooner or later, he told them about everything that had happened last night, Shinji telling him he was a Vizard, Shadow's strange conversation including the fact that he told Ichigo they knew of hollows, learning Cazador's name, and finally, passing out after getting the Mark of Oroborus. When he was done, it was Uryu who spoke first.

"Here's a thought, Ichigo: why take it at all? After all, if you and—Cazador was it?" Ichigo nodded. "Well, if you two have come to agreement, what good does this mark do you?" Ichigo opened up his mouth…only to close it with a stunned look.

"You didn't even think about that, did you?" he asked, pushing up his glasses while everyone simply sweatdropped at Ichigo's obliviousness.

'Did either of you think of that?' he asked his two zanpakuto.

_I did, Ichigo._

**Yep, me too. Ya really suck at seeing what's right in front of ya, Ichigo.**

'Well, why didn't either of you say anything then?'

_You wished to used this power to protect your loved ones, Ichigo. With it, I would not need to worry about the rain falling from your heart doubting itself._

**I just thought it would be funny to watch yer reaction to the news about how ya never needed it to keep me at bay.**

"Ichigo…" Snapping back to attention, he looked around to see that everyone was staring worriedly at him.

"Sorry. Just talking to Zangetsu and Cazador to see if they knew about that, which apparently they did," he said, a little resentful that they wouldn't tell him something like that. At the very least, he wouldn't be embarrassed about not knowing about it. Sighing loudly, Tatsuki got everyone's attention back on her.

"Aside from Ichigo's stupidity," she began, ignoring the aforementioned person's glare, "I have a question about all of this…" pausing for dramatic effect, she checked to make sure they were all looking at her so she wouldn't need to repeat herself. "What do we do about this?" Confused, everyone just blinked at her.

"What do you mean, 'we'?" Chad asked, though the way his voice sounded, you might miss the confusion hidden in there.

"I mean, what do me, Keigo, and Mizurio do? You didn't really think we'd sit back and let you guys risk your lives while we sit back and wait for it all to be over, hoping you guys would be alive," she clarified, standing up and crossing her arms in defiance, smiling. Keigo and Mizurio smiled and nodded.

"Well actually, Tatsuki, you might not have to," spoke a gentle voice above them. Turning, they all saw a young man standing on the top of the chain-link fence behind them. His hands were in the pockets of his leather jacket, staying there as he hopped down onto the concrete. As he straightened his dark blue shirt, they saw his wavy silver hair ruffle in front of soft golden eyes. Turning back to his audience, he spoke again.

"You know, if you take a picture, it will last a lot longer," the stranger said casually, trying to lighten the mood a little. That snapped everyone out of their stupor.

"Who are you? What do you want? Where did you come from? When did you start standing there? Why were you listening in on our conversation? How did you climb the side of the building without anyone seeing you?" Keigo rambled on until Ichigo and Tatsuki both punched him in the jaw.

"As annoying as he is, he does have a good point. Who are you?" she said, looking back at him.

"I am Yang," he said, looking over at her. When she looked into his eyes, Tatsuki started to shake. 'What's wrong with me? I can't be afraid of him, can I?' Before anyone could blink, Yang appeared in front of her, placing a hand on her shoulder and offering a reassuring smile.

"It's all right, I know my eyes can make people uncomfortable," he said softly. "But I assure you, I'm a friend."

"Then you would know who Shadow is, right?" Ichigo asked him. Moving his hand from Tatsuki's shoulder, Yang looked over to Ichigo.

"He is my master, has been for a long time," he said simply.

"Then, would you mind showing me where the black rose blooms," Ichigo pressed, remembering Shadow telling him about the tattoo.

Pausing to look surprised, Yang started to chuckle. "So, he told you that joke, huh? All right, if it will convince you I'm on your side." He shifted his jacket off of his shoulder and pulled up the short sleeve of his shirt. There on his outer upper arm was a tattoo of a rose. It's petals and stem were both blackened, the petals opening to a full bloom.

"Wow, that's so pretty," Orihime said offhandedly. "Tatsuki, you should get one just like it when you turn 18, it matches you."

"Yeah, it's not really my style, Orihime," she said, patting her eccentric friend on her head before feeling something on her shin. Looking down, both girls saw a dog as tall as their waists sitting and holding out his paw to shake; looking right back at them with golden eyes like Yang and tail wagging.

"Oh, you're so cute," Orihime called out before hugging the dog, who began licking her face. She giggled before looking over at Yang. "Is he yours?"

"Yes, he is. His name is Yin and he's quite friendly," he said with a smile at her. Looking between dog and master, Orihime began to laugh. Blinking, Yang looked at her confused. "Is there a joke that I missed?"

"Your names, Yin and Yang, like the symbol. I got it," she said simply. Sighing, Yang walked over to her and looked her in the eye.

"I'm well aware of the origins of our names Orihime, but please, don't make fun of them. I'm very sensitive about that," he said slowly as if he were talking to a four year old child.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," she said quickly, blushing in embarrassment.

He just shrugged, smiling. "Don't worry about it."

"Not to seem rude," Uryu interrupted, "But if you wouldn't mind explaining why you are here to begin with." Sitting in a cross-legged position, Yang looked at the circle of young people before.

"I am here to help you, all of you, to become stronger," he said simply, knowing not to beat around the bush.

"Wait, Shadow told me that Tatsuki wouldn't be able to awaken her powers for a month or two, and she's the farthest along," Ichigo interrupted. Bringing his right hand up to the bridge of his nose, Yang forced himself to remain calm.

"Ichigo, did you even bother to read the book my master left with you?"

"Well, not closely," he admitted. "I skimmed over some random pages, saw the pictures, I didn't really see anything specific."

"Did you at least bring the book with you?" Yang asked, secretly hoping this kid wasn't entirely clueless. Pulling the book out, Ichigo handed it over to him. Yang opened it to a page and held it up for all to see. "It explains what I'm talking about in the first chapter, see?"

"Hey, if you expect us to follow you on this," Uryu interrupted, "shouldn't we focus on something other than Ichigo's lack of foresight?"

"You're right," Yang said, not noticing Ichigo's glare as he shifted his gaze to him. "Now, have you at least told them about the mark?"

"Yes…" Ichigo said slowly.

"Well then, we're already halfway there," Yang said before turning to look at the whole group. "While the mark is in place and the energy from it is in the process of stabilizing, a person with great control over spirit energy, such as myself or say a Quincy," he glanced pointed at Uryu, "would be able to transfer some of the excess energy into another person with higher-than-average levels of spirit energy and, to put it simply, speed up the process of developing powers."

"So, if you do that to Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizurio…" Chad said slowly.

"I'd be able to kick-start their powers sooner, so they would be able to fight alongside you against hollows and any other enemies you face." Hearing this, the teenagers all held different expressions on their faces. Keigo, Orihime, and Ichigo looked pensive, Orihime as she scratched Yin's ears, Tatsuki looked a little excited, Mizurio looked thoughtful, and Chad and Uryu's faces were difficult to read.

"Um, will this hurt them?" Orihime asked quietly, scared that her friends' safety.

"To be honest, it's only been done a handful of times to awaken another person's powers," Yang said slowly.

"Then, why should we listen to you?" Uryu interrupted suspiciously, pushing up his glasses. Looking over at the Quincy, Yang examined him carefully before answering with a smile.

"You wouldn't happen to be related to Soken Ishida, would you Uryu?" Uryu's eyes widened in shock.

"H-he was my grandfather an-and my sensei," Uryu stuttered, shocked that this person knew his family.

"Well, with the handful that had their powers activated, Soken was the only one to use this technique to have his powers returned to him after he lost them," Yang replied.

"Since this is a large job for me to do alone, I felt that maybe as a Quincy, whose specialty is the manipulation and weaponisation of reishi (spirit particles), I was curious to see if you would be interested in trying the technique yourself to not only reassure your friends that the procedure is safe and restore your own power, but if it goes well, you'd be able to perform it with me on them," nodding his head towards the three across from him.

"Wait, I heard an 'if' in that statement," Keigo blurted out. "Why'd you say 'if'?"

"Well, considering the fact that only Uryu's grandfather took the method of power restoration, I don't know how much the risk is," Yang said flatly, restraining the urge to pommel the boy.

"Then, how do you do it if you're not a Quincy?" Chad asked. Sighing, Yang stood up and walked over to the fence, putting out his right hand, his beads shaking slightly, closing his eyes in concentration. After a moment, a small hole burst out of the meshing of the fence. Opening his eyes he turned back with a satisfied smile on his face at the stunned faces looking at him and Yin's wagging tail.

"Martial artists who have developed their own chi can push that very chi outwards as an attack," he explained carefully, "so, I would be able to draw energy through my body into another quite easily, with enough practice of course."

Uryu sat quietly, adjusting his glasses in deep thought. On the one hand, here was a complete stranger telling him that he had a method to restore his powers, only it had only been done once in the whole time that he had done a similar process to activate others powers, which worried him greatly. On the other hand, his sensei had been that one time and he wouldn't have to endure his father's ultimatum from last night.

"Maybe we should talk about this among ourselves first," Orihime suggested, nervous at why Uryu was hesitating. Yang nodded before beckoning to Yin, who came over to his side.

"However, I feel I should remind you that you only have 10 minutes left before you return to class," he calmly said, checking the clock. Everyone else huddled together to keep their conversation private while Yang wandered over to lean on the fence next to the hole he made.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Mizurio inquired.

Pushing up his glasses, Uryu explained. "Last night, I was fighting a hollow that could regenerate and separate into two individual hollows. I had made some battle capsules before going to the Soul Society, just in case. But they overwhelmed me, so much so that my father had to save me. He said that he could return my powers, but I had to promise to never get involved in Soul Reaper matters ever again." Everyone stared at him.

"So that's why you're considering it," Tatsuki said finally. "If you accept your dad's offer, you can't even work with Ichigo anymore." Sadly, he nodded before looking at them.

"If I choose to do this, I can work without my father's influence, and I'll be able to help you three as well," he said firmly. Everyone else looked at each other then back at him.

"Well, if you've made up you're mind, then I guess there's no stopping you, is there?" Ichigo said, scratching the back of his head with a smirk. Uryu returned his smirk with one of his own before looking back at the rest of them.

"When we get our powers, we're gonna need all the help we can get to learn how to use them," Tatsuki said, "and considering you are smarter than Ichigo," Ichigo turned his head at this, muttering, "He ain't that much smarter," "we stand a better chance of learning with your help." Chad just gave him the thumbs up. With that, they all turned to Orihime, who looked at her feet.

"I'm sorry, Uryu, but I'm scared. I couldn't forgive myself if I stood aside and let you do something this dangerous and get hurt," she said quietly, lip quivering slightly. "But I know that you're as stubborn as Ichigo as well," both boys looked away from each other, both thinking 'I'm nothing like him.' "So I know you won't give up the chance to fight hollows again." She looked him with a sad smile on. "And I know I'll just worry about you if you don't get them back. Just promise you'll be careful when he does it, okay?"

"I promise, Orihime," Uryu said with a kind smile. "And thank you for caring enough to worry about me." This set Orihime into autopilot.

"Oh, it's no trouble at all," she said. "I worry about all my friends, except for when Tatsuki is in her karate tournaments, since she can handle any injury, if you don't count getting hit by that car before the final round at the beginning of last summer…" Tatsuki placed a hand on her head before she could continue.

"That's nice, Orihime, but how 'bout we talk about it later, 'k?"

All of them walked back to the two newcomers, who seemed to be talking to each other, before turning back to see them. Uryu walked up and stared at Yang. "How will I know when it's over and I have my powers back?"

Straightening out, Yang beckoned Ichigo to come over. "First, Ichigo has to show the mark so I can get a clear pathway for the energy to flow." This statement caused Ichigo to blush. Glancing at Orihime and Tatsuki, he walked over to stand between Uryu and Yang.

"Tatsuki, Orihime, turn around. I don't want you two looking," he called over to them. The girls stared at each other, confused at why he embarrassed.

"Come on, Ichigo it can't be that bad," Tatsuki said, crossing her arms defiantly. Knowing he wouldn't get her to realize what he was doing until it was done, he started pulling off his shirt. That was all it took for Orihime and Tatsuki's faces to go vermillion.

"ICHIGO, WHAT THE HELL ARE DOING?!?! YOU CAN'T DO THAT HERE, GODDAMMIT!!!" Tatsuki screamed, feeling like she was going to faint with embarrassment at what a person would think if they saw her and Orihime staring at a half-undressed Ichigo. 'They'd think that I was trying something with him.' She thought miserably. Orihime's thoughts, however, were a little less well ought out. 'Ichigo…undressing…me…'

"The mark is on my shoulder. This is needed so he can get a proper flow. It's why I asked for you two to turn around for this part," Ichigo clarified, his face matching both of theirs in shear redness.

**Aww, isn't this a sweet scene? Ya show them something they probably see everyday on the tube and y'all get nervous just 'cause y'all know each other; now this is what I call entertaining.**

'Remind me to throttle you later,' he thought sullenly as Yang moved to stand between him and Uryu.

"Now, when a person is having his or her powers activated, they claimed that they felt a rush of electric power flowing in their veins, followed by a tingling sensation, kind of like the way your foot or hand falls asleep but all over your body," he explained carefully, making sure not to leave out any details. "With Soken however, the opposite happens, you feel tingly, then rush. So, just call out 'Rush!' so that I'll know when to stop. Otherwise…well, like I said, we're only one-for-one, so there's no telling what will happen."

Breathing slowly to calm himself, Uryu nodded. "Oh, and don't worry about your uniform, Uryu. Spirit fire doesn't burn clothes." Closing his eyes, Yang began breathing deeply, bringing the index and middle fingers on both hand together on the two moons in the center of the circle. Slowly, bright blue flames of spirit energy started to dance around his fingertips as he drew his right hand back, dragging the tips and flames down his arm to his own shoulder and towards his abdomen.

"I should point out that it's going to be bright, so you should shield your eyes," he called over his shoulder. Every one of the observers put their hands over their faces in compliance, even Yin dropped his head with a paw over one eye. Then, pulling his fingers up his side, to the top of his right shoulder and right at Uryu's chest, the flames jumping along the path and going straight into Uryu, shining as they traveled to him.

As Yang had said, Uryu felt his entire body fall asleep. He couldn't describe how it felt to have his blood trying to return to its regular flow to his hands, feet, chest, even the end of his nose. But before he could think anymore on it, the rush started, burning him insides.

"Rush!" he called. Hearing this, Yang pivoted on his right foot to face the opposite direction, circling his arms to meet in front of the center of his chest, left over right, before breathing in, drawing both hands palm face-up to his chin, and out pushing his hands downward, palms down.

"So?" Ichigo prompted, as he straightened his shirt. "How do you feel?"

"Well, let's see…" Uryu held up his right hand and concentrated on gathering reishi. Soon, an energy bow formed around it. Pulling on the string, an arrow formed from the bow and fired it into the sky. "I'd definitely say that I feel great to be back," he said with a smirk and an adjustment to his glasses.

"Excellent," Yang said smiling. "Now, you all had better head back to class, and I'll meet you at the park after school to finish this." With that, Yin changed into mist and surrounded Yang, before merging with the shadows in the corner.

"Well, at least he was nice," Orihime said softly.

"I guess we just wait until after school then," Mizurio said, shrugging. With the hearing of the bell, they headed back to class.

* * *

_Soul Society, Squad 10__, Captain Hitsugaya's office …_

Toshiro was pacing around his office, thinking hard about the mission ahead. Or at least, he tried to. Every time he tried to focus, his mind ended up returning to the day Ichigo and his friends left the Soul Society after Aizen's betrayal. Then, he stopped, hearing a knock on his door. "Enter," he said patiently. The door opened to reveal Soifon and Renji, the latter looking edgy. "What can I do for you, Captain Soifon?"

"Actually, Lieutenant Abarai has a request he would to make," she said dryly, jerking her head over to the second newcomer. Hearing his name, Renji stepped forward.

"Renji, if you're here to ask me if you can participate in the mission, then don't. I already have permission from Captain Kuchiki for you to join," Toshiro said sitting in his chair and resting his elbows on the desk, interlacing his fingers.

"Actually, I've come to ask if Rukia could come, Captain," Renji said, rubbing the back of his head. "After all, she knows Karakura better than anyone and--"

"You don't have to explain, Renji. I'm well aware of what you are trying to do," Toshiro interrupted. "Rukia will be worried about Ichigo as we all are. In fact, I was thinking about our visitor's last visit; more specifically, the message he left us." Renji blinked at this.

"Message? What message?"

"I'm not surprised you don't know this, Renji, since only Captain Hitsugaya, myself, and our lieutenants were there to witness it and we swore them to secrecy to prevent a panic," Soifon stepped in. "Would you care to explain, Captain Hitsugaya?"

"Very well," he said. "If you must know, Renji…"

_/1 month before…/_

_"Hey Snowflake, Bumblebee," the masked man called out to them. "I have a message but not enough time to deliver it personally." Reaching his right hand out to his side, he clenched his fingers into a claw and turned to have his fingers point downward. A large black spiral began to swirl around the hand and grow until it was 7 feet tall._

_"Tell old Sourgrapes this: 'You abused my gift, so I'm taking him back.'" With that, he turned, coat end rising as he ran into the void as it closed behind him, leaving two seething Soul Reaper captains._

_/Return to Present/_

"We don't know any more than that," he concluded, "but if this has a connection to Ichigo, we may need all the help we can get, especially if he's helping Aizen." This left the other two silent with dread. "Renji, I suggest you get Rukia up to speed. She's coming with us."

"Right."

* * *

_Hueco Mundo, Aizen's Throne room…_

"Lord Aizen," spoke an emotionless voice, "we are ready." The man on the throne smiled cruelly.

"Excellent, Ulquiorra," Aizen said, "You and Yammi find the Soul Reaper with orange hair and a black bankai, I want to see if he will be a threat to our plans."

"As you wish, my lord," said the pale-faced Ulquiorra before bowing out of the room with a large lumbering Yammy behind him into the Garganta to the Human World.

* * *

_**Next time on Shadows Are Rising:**_

"This is amazing!"

"What's happening over there?"

"Ichigo, use this, it will bring out Zangetsu."

"Rukia, I gotta talk to you. Something has happened to Ichigo and we want you to come with us to find out what."

* * *

_**Happy New Years!! For references, I used Daricio's review and my response to it for Uryu's question and Ichigo's lack of response. Also, I thought of Iroh from Avatar and his redirecting lightning technique for the energy transference movement. Anyway, have a nice year, everyone.**_

**-- TwinShadows**


	5. Chapter 4: New Strength, New Enemies

_**I am going to start posting the responses to my reviews at the beginning of my chapters. Also, I'm slightly insulted that no one wants to use my OCs in their stories, even with my offer. You don't have to make them a main secondary character, a minor role is fine. To the reviewers:**_

_**J'aime Manga: Glad you appreciate my energy transference ideas. I assure you, Shadow will be explained later in the story.**_

_**Daricio: Nice to hear from you again. You're becoming a regular around here, and I'm happy you like the little joke I had with you last chapter. About Yang, I'll explain his behavior later in the story, but for now, let's just say he's had it rough before he met Shadow. Also, would you fare any better against Keigo's overactive attitude? Plus, he was talking to Orihime like someone would explain to a little kid what they were doing wrong (a firm but gentle tone, not in an angry tone). That doesn't mean he doesn't get mad from time to time, just that he keeps his temper in check most of the time.**_

_**The way I see it, the Soul Society usually doesn't take any serious action until it's really deep in action anyway, so it seemed like it would fit it anyway. Besides, they show up the next day after the fight with Ulquiorra and Yammi in the anime and manga too. There will be more explanations with the book in this chapter, but seriously, Ichigo is not the most patient of people nor does he usually think things through, especially when trying to protect people. Also, Uryu will get his evolved bow. Personally, I don't believe that he got it right after his father restored his powers in the anime and manga anyway, makes no sense when you think about it.**_

_**Okami Princess: I'm happy that you are taken by my story. I just have to keep in mind what kind of person each character is like and then the rest becomes easy after that. Hope you still like my work as it goes on in the future.**_

_**Redwritingbaron: You're right; academically, Ichigo is very intelligent. But you have to remember that when it comes to protecting his loved ones, sometimes he's a little rash with his decisions.**_

_**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to Bleach in any way, shape, or form. I do claim ownership to my OCs, however, so if anyone needs to borrow them for one of their stories, just send a review requesting the use, along with a basic idea of the story you're writing and the promise they won't be used as villains. I wouldn't mind if they were either made into anti-heroes or anti-villains, just no making them classic villains.**_

**-- TwinShadows**

**Shadows Are Rising**

**Chapter 4: New Strength, New Enemies**

_Karakura High School, 1:55 p.m.…_

As the last five minutes of the school day were winding down, all the students were waiting for class to be finally over. But for seven students, the reasons had nothing to do with hanging out or going shopping. They were more concerned with getting to the park, meeting up with the mysterious Yang, and finish activating Tatsuki, Keigo and Mizurio's powers. Almost two hours ago, he brought back Uryu's powers to their previous strength and disappeared along with Yin, the dog who turned into black mist for him to disappear with.

Not wanting to have another lecture about it, Ichigo decided to open up the book Shadow left him and look at it whenever the teacher paused in her lessons (which ended up with Ms. Ochi throwing chalk at his head several times) and getting into the chapter on the mark's cooling period. It turned out there were several things that could go wrong with the transfer; in fact there was a list of events that needed to keep an eye out for: someone sneezing, avoid being near a place with loud noises, be on the watch for any stray flying bugs (the last one didn't really make sense to him, but he figured it had to be important).

Glancing around, he looked over at the others. He saw that Tatsuki drumming her fingers impatiently on the desk. Keigo was, surprisingly, quiet. Ichigo guessed that he was scared about what would happen at the park later. Mizurio was sitting there stiffly, like he had an apple on his head and an amateur archer had the arrow pointed at him. Uryu kept adjusting his glasses every 5 seconds while glancing between the teacher and the clock. Chad's face was impossible to read, though his posture was stiffer than normal. Orihime was for the beginning of the class had been nervous, until she began thinking if sweet potatoes would work with red bean paste and onions and somehow ended up wondering if a robot could beat a gorilla at arm-wrestling.

"All right," said Ms. Ochi, "since it's clear that none of you are actually interested in the lesson and given that I want to be here less than you do…" everyone sweatdropped at this, "I'm just going to let you all go now, but I expect you to make up those minutes next class. And don't forget to do your 30 math problems tonight." With that, everyone started piling out. Outside, Ichigo and his friends gathered together in a circle.

"Let's get over to the park," Uryu said, "he might be there already." Everyone else nodded before heading down the hallway.

* * *

"Man, What a pain," Shinji muttered as he strolled down the road, his bag over his shoulder. "I'm not cut out for this. A test right after a vacation? Are they sadists? Why do I have to be the one to go to school and recruit Ichigo anyway? I still don't understand."

He'd been in a bad mood ever since Ichigo had dismissed him so casually about joining the vizards. But what had been bugging him the most was what kind of help Ichigo had been given and, more importantly, who gave him the help.

'Who would be powerful enough to suppress an inner hollow? According to Kisuke, Aizen has the Hogyoku and there haven't been any other vizards besides us so who--' his thought was interrupted by someone knocking him to the ground from behind. Angry, he turned around to start taking his aggression out on them. "Ow! Who the…?!" before his eyes widened in fear at the figure before him.

There stood what appeared to be an adolescent girl with her blond hair tied up in two pigtails. She was wearing a red jogging suit with the jacket open showing a white T-shirt and the pant legs rolled up to under her knees, a katana strung across her back and open-toed sandals on her feet. One of her canines was sticking out of her mouth and her face was set in a frown, brown eyes were glaring at Shinji. Shinji knew that when Hiyori Sarugaki was like this, it was right to feel the need to run away screaming before she could get the chance to do some serious damage to you physically.

"Hi-Hiyori," he stuttered, his body trembling. Hiyori didn't say anything. She simply kicked up her right foot, her sandal coming off in the process. Reaching out her hand, she grabbed it as it fell back down.

"What's the holdup?!!" she hollered at him, smacking Shinji in the face with her sandal.

"I'm sorry," he whimpered as small ribbons of blood fell from his mouth before Hiyori grabbed him by his collar and pulled him forward until she was up in his face.

"Where's Ichigo Kurosaki?"

"He says that he doesn't need us," Shinji said timidly, obviously terrified of her temper. "He said that someone else had already helped him suppress his hollow."

"That's a load of crap, Shinji," Hiyori hollered, "There ain't anyone else he could turn to."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that, Fang." Hearing this, Hiyori stopped physically abusing Shinji and both turned to look up at the top of the wall where there sat…

"Well, well, well," Hiyori sneered, "Ya just can't keep your nose out o' other peoples' business, can you Shadow?"

Pushing off, Shadow fell down to land in a crouch, hands on his knees, before straightening out and brushing the dirt off his pants. "What can I say? I'm a busybody. But, better than needing braces, right Fang?" By the final word, Hiyori had hit him so hard that he spun on the ball of his foot before wobbling back on two feet, shaking his head.

"So, why exactly are you taking an interest in Ichigo?" Shinji interjected before either of them could escalate it any further. "I was under the impression that we were the ones who knew about suppressing inner hollows, since we actually have them."

"Let's just say that the mad-hatter made a big little miscalculation in the hollowfication, so I figured Yang and I would step in," he shrugged before turning around to start walking away, then paused midstep. "There's one other thing I should warn you guys about."

"What's that?" Shinji asked, brow furrowed. Shadow turned his masked head to make it look like he was glancing over his shoulder.

"The Soul Society will no doubt be sending some Soul Reapers to check up on Ichigo, since his Spiritual Pressure has decreased drastically since last night. I don't want you guys to get drawn into this, so you'd best lay low for awhile." With that, Shadow sped out of sight, leaving a trail of dust kicked up and two vizards with grim expressions.

"Shinji…" Hiyori said quietly, which was a rare thing for those who knew her.

"Yeah…"

"I hate Soul Reapers."

Sighing, Shinji closed his eyes solemnly. "I know."

"But I can't stand that guy even less!!" she shouted, regaining her loud attitude. This caused Shinji to smile.

"Yeah. But at least you can't say he doesn't care," he said before using flash step to head back to tell the others, Hiyori following him._

* * *

_

Karakura Park…

"Tatsuki, aren't you going to be in trouble for skipping karate?" Orihime asked, concerned for her friend.

"Relax, Orihime. I'm their best fighter, it won't be that bad for me to miss one lesson," Tatsuki said casually. "Besides, I can say I was working to improve my skills and technically, I'm not lying." She added with a grin.

"If our new friend doesn't show up, you won't have that technicality," Uryu put in dryly, pushing up his glasses.

"WHERE IS HE, ANYWAY?!" Keigo shouted, hopping up and down so fast that he looked like a Jumping Jack toy.

"I'm right here, Keigo. There's no need to shout," Yang's voice rang from behind Keigo, making everyone jump and turn. He strolled out from behind a tree while Yin bounded out and started circling around everyone else, tail beating the air furiously, and tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth.

"Maybe you shouldn't do that anymore, Yang," said Mizurio casually before pointing up a tree. "I don't think that Mr. Asano's heart can take the constant surprises."

"WHY, MIZURIO, WHY?!" Keigo called down from the branch he had jumped up to in his panic. "I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS!!"

"Anyway, perhaps it's best if we start," Yang suggested, wanting to avoid conflict.

"Alright, so how do we do this?" Ichigo said.

"Well, I thought it best that before we do the actual process, I guide Uryu through the movements of the transfusion so that he may help me in the endeavor," he said, casting a look over to the Quincy.

"Why do I have to be the one to do this? Why can't you just do it yourself?" Uryu asked, quirking an eyebrow. Yang looked down, rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand.

"Well when I do this, a lot of different factors come up, like the amount of spirit energy that needs to be transferred and what level of spiritual pressure the person I'm transferring to is. That in turn affects how much the process is going to physically exhaust me and mentally weaken me, so I think that if I showed you the process movement, it would leave me with some energy to actually teach you all," he said, shuffling his feet.

Sighing, Uryu moved forward to stand in front of him. "Show me the movements and I'll be able to do them," he said. Looking back up, Yang got into position with his hands at the ready, Uryu following his example.

"All right, first you have your index and middle fingers on both hands extended and all the tips touching each other and the mark then pull the arm that's reaching across back with the fingers dragging along the other arm," he explained, doing the movements slowly as he did so with Uryu mimicking him along the way. "When you reach the shoulder, you move down your chest and towards the abdomen to cross the dan tien."

"What is a 'dan tien'?" Uryu interjected.

"It's the center of your body and the source of your chi, put three fingers under your navel and that's the spot," Yang explained before continuing, "After your finger pass across the dan tien, pull them up to your other shoulder, turn the wrist to point outward and push the energy out," he concluded with a final thrust of his hands, Uryu matching his move.

Straightening up, Yang nodded at Uryu. "Good job. Now keep practicing it on each arm until I'm finished with either Keigo or Tatsuki, then you can work with Mizurio while I finish with the third person."

"Why not start with Mizurio? Your master said he was the least developed spiritually," Chad put in.

"Which is why it's best for Uryu to do so on Mizurio; not that I don't doubt your skills Uryu," he said, glancing at the Quincy still working on the form, "but if the amount of energy is put in more than what they say, it could cause those powers to be destroyed, or worse, the person's body could be in danger."

"So, as a precaution, you're giving me the one who doesn't have enough spirit energy where, even if I give him too much, he'll still have the best chance of keeping his powers at the level they should start at," Uryu stated as he extended his left hand all the way. Yang nodded.

"Hey, will we get to fly after this?" Keigo asked, jumping down from the tree and spreading his arms like wings.

"Well, I--," Yang began, but Keigo wasn't done.

"Or maybe we can shoot lasers from our eyes," this time his index fingers were pointed from his eyes in a jabbing manner, "or grow 100 ft tall," raising his arms above his body, "or how about--," before Tatsuki nailed him on his head, making him face print the ground.

"Just do it to him before I need emergency brain surgery," she said to Yang who nodded quickly before moving over to help Keigo up.

"A word of advice," he whispered to the brown-haired boy, "I know a woman just like her. It's best to just keep your mouth shut and do whatever it takes to make sure not to get her mad."

"So, are we ready?" Ichigo asked. Yang looked over and nodded.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Ichigo? Like your shirt has to be up?" Uryu called out. At this, Ichigo went red and slowly lifted his shirt for the second time that day. Both Tatsuki and Orihime still blushed at this, but at least they were better prepared this time.

"Uryu, you can stop now," Yang called, "I think you would be best if you were here to watch it again before you attempt it yourself." Nodding, Uryu stopped his movements and moved to stand next to Chad. Yang then pointed his index finger at Keigo. "Keigo, get over here," he said, moving his finger back and forth to indicate 'come here.' Quivering with barely contained excitement, Keigo moved to stand in front of Ichigo and Yang. "Now, hold still. I don't want to mess up, understand?"

Gulping, Keigo nodded. "Good, now remember: for you, it is going to be a rush of electricity, then numbing sensation," Yang reminded him before moving to get into position. Remembering to shield their eyes, the others made sure they could see the process without damaging their eyes, Uryu especially since he was expected to do it next. Going through the process he had done at the school roof, Yang shot the spirit flames straight to Keigo's chest. The next sound that everyone heard was Keigo's strained groans and yelps of pain as the fire delved into his body, intermingling with his soul.

Orihime looked over at the scene with anxiety, since this time her friends would feel pain before they went numb. Chad's face was hard to discern, but his concern was noticeable in his eyes, finding out that this process might be longer than Uryu's and scared that Keigo might pass out before it was over. Tatsuki was busy mentally preparing herself for when it was her turn, because the way it sounded, things were going to be hell. Mizurio was staring in awe at was happening to his old friend, wondering how Keigo could keep up with this. Uryu, while doing his best to focus on the task before him, couldn't help but feel both nervous at what he saw and slightly relieved he was made to go through the opposite of the experiences Keigo was going through. After what felt like an eternity….

"Numb!" Keigo called in a strained voice. Pulling back the flow, Yang went to stop position quickly before everyone moved in to check up on Keigo, who was on his knees twitching, his bangs covering his eyes.

"Keigo, you all right?" Ichigo asked, frowning with worry.

"Wake up," Chad said, shaking Keigo with a subtle nervous tremble in his voice.

"Please be okay," Orihime pleaded. At this, Keigo began to stir before…

"MY DEAR FRIENDS!!" he shouted, somehow pulling them all into a group hug, dramatic tears running down his face. "I FEEL SO LOVED!!" At this, Ichigo and Tatsuki both slammed their fists into his face, sending him sky high.

"Can't believe that guy," Ichigo muttered, ignoring the yells made by Keigo as he reached the top of his climb. "For one second, I was actually afraid that he bit the bullet."

"What about me? I'm gonna be next and I can only hope it doesn't mess with my mind and make me wacko like Keigo," Tatsuki grunted as Keigo approached the ground, one hand extended as though it will help him against the fall.

"Hey guys, how come there hasn't been a crash yet?" Mizurio asked. This brought everyone to attention that their friend hadn't cried about being hit.

"This is amazing!" Hearing Keigo call out, they all turned around to find… Keigo was standing only on the fingertips of the hand he had extended during his fall. Pushing off, he flipped forward and landed flat on his feet, knees bent, before straightening up, arms raised in a 'V'. The only ones who didn't have their mouths open in astonishment were Orihime, who was laughing and clapping in amazement, Chad, who settled for being bug-eyed, and Uryu, who kept trying to push up his glasses but missed and his fingers only made contact with his face.

"Wow! How'd I do that?" Keigo asked eyes glazed over as he kept checking his hands. Then, he leapt up into the trees, swinging off the branch and flipping, alternating between swinging from his hands and feet before ending up hanging from the top branch by the tops of his feet upside down, looking down at the others below looking back up at him then back-flipped off the branch to land on the ground flat on his feet, squat down before standing upright.

"Well, different people do develop their own unique powers, so naturally we don't know what could develop," Yang explained before turning back to look at the others before him, "Now Uryu, Tatsuki, Mizurio, get over here so that we can finish this." At this, Uryu moved to stand in front of Ichigo and Tatsuki and Mizurio stood a little way away in front of them.

"Now, just to make sure you understand everything, I'm going to do it again on Tatsuki, but hopefully because she has the highest spiritual pressure of the three of you, it won't be as long it was with Keigo," Yang said moving his head from Uryu to Tatsuki, both nodding before the Quincy took two steps back and Tatsuki stood in front, shivering in both excitement at the prospect of having the power to fight with Ichigo and Orihime and nervousness at the feeling of the pain that Keigo felt. Again, Yang performed the procedure and the fire entered her chest with the flames licking her cheeks.

The result was the intense burning sensation coursing through her veins as the raw energy poured into her body. Groaning, Tatsuki tightly shut her eyes against the pain, working through it. 'Just a little more, Tatsuki,' she kept thinking, 'A little more and then I can fight. I won't be the one who needs protecting anymore.' After a minute, the pain subsided and was replaced by the numbness that Yang had mentioned.

"Numb!" she cried, thus stopping the transaction. Unlike Keigo, Tatsuki was still standing, panting with sweat dipping down her face. Yang was also panting, hands on his knees to keep himself from falling over. Even Ichigo was out of breath, since it was the third time today he had given his spirit energy for this procedure and twice within the last few minutes.

"Tatsuki," Orihime called out, worriedly. "Are you okay?" At this, Tatsuki looked over and smiled reassuringly at Orihime, giving her a shaky wave.

"I'm fine, Orihime," she called, catching her breath, "Just need a moment to get my second wind." With a couple more deep breaths, she straightened up and moved over to stand in front of the group. Orihime still looked concerned, but could see that her friend was at least physically unharmed so for now, she could wait to see what would happen. Besides, she was a little curious about what Tatsuki's powers were.

"So," Chad said, "What can you do?"

"Give me a minute," Tatsuki said with a casual wave of her hand. Moving over to the tree Keigo was just swinging from, she placed one hand on her chin and the other on the tree trunk. Or at least, until the trunk exploded from under her palm and started to fall towards her.

"TATSUKI!!!" Orihime cried out on the verge of tears. At the same time, Ichigo shouted, "GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!"

Startled, Tatsuki started running to the side… only to end up 2 yards away when the tree slammed the ground, causing a small tremor and a loud BOOM! Moving slowly, Tatsuki moved to stand next to her wide-eyed friends before laughing nervously, scratching the back of her head.

"So…what are the odds that no one else heard that?" she asked nervously before grabbing her stomach with her free hand, groaning.

"What's wrong?" Orihime asked, tears starting to overflow with worry as her mind started coming up with numerous end results; ranging from Tatsuki exploding to her splitting in two to having a talking bunny run out of the bushes saying he was late.

"I feel funny," Tatsuki responded, "I think I'm gonna…gonna…" before she turned around and let out a large belch. When she was finished, she looked mortified, slightly red with embarrassment. However, neither she nor any of the present company was shocked at her because her body had loudly announced one of its functions.

Everyone was preoccupied with wrapping their minds that she had sent a large stream of fire from her mouth and set the fallen tree ablaze.

"Maybe we should leave before the fire department come and start asking questions," Mizurio suggested. Everyone nodded as they all started running off to get an alibi, though Ichigo, Yang and Yin were trudging behind, Yang because the energy procedure had taken a lot out of him, Yin who was staying close to his partner, and Ichigo was feeling like he was about to pass out from the amount of energy that had been taken out. Everyone had the same thought on their minds though: 'How did Tatsuki do that?'

* * *

_Soul Society, Kuchiki mansion…_

Renji was moving along the halls of the Kuchiki clan home, dragging his feet the whole time in hopes of how he was going to break the news to Rukia, let alone how he was going to convince Captain Kuchiki to let her go if she decided to go with them and he knew that she would once he told her. Renji knew that wwwwaaaaayyyy deep down, Byakuya Kuchiki did care about Rukia, though he didn't let it show on his face. He would try to keep her safe, even though Renji was sure that Captain Hitsugaya had informed him about the decision to extend the offer to include her in this mission.

He didn't know what Rukia's relationship with Ichigo was, and he didn't really care. He just knew that they were good friends and she had felt responsible for him since she gave him her powers. It also didn't hurt that he felt that he owed Ichigo for working so hard to make sure she wasn't executed when most people, himself included, wouldn't. If it weren't for the kid, he and Rukia wouldn't have reestablished their friendship, although it annoyed him to no end that just about everyone around him kept saying he and Ichigo were alike, he couldn't understand that part.

'Great, there she is,' he thought seeing her walking towards him. 'Now, how am I gonna break this to her without her going crazy and hitting me in her worried state?'

"Hey Renji," Rukia said casually, "Byakuya said you and Captain Hitsugaya were asking about me for something. What do you need?"

Shuffling his feet, Renji looked at his oldest friend and decided to take the direct approach. "Rukia, I gotta talk to you."

"I think we've established that, Renji so get to the point," Rukia said impatiently, crossing her arms.

"Something has happened to Ichigo and we want you to come with us to find out what," Renji said, bracing himself for what was to come.

Rukia just stood there, doing her best to keep her 'Kuchiki face' intact, the only slip being her eyes had slightly widened. However, inside her emotions were going haywire at the news. She felt worry about something happening to Ichigo, anger that she hadn't been informed before now, even a tiny piece of happiness that they had remembered her in the affair. "What happened to Ichigo Renji?" she said quietly.

"Captain Kurotsuchi found that the guy from last month was spotted in Karakura last night and after they lost him…" Renji trailed off to take a deep breath, "Ichigo's spiritual pressure dropped down to the point where it was nearly nonexistent."

* * *

_A different part of Karakura Park…_

"Okay," Ichigo panted, "What was that about, Tatsuki?"

"How should I know?" she snapped, "Until today, all I could do was see spirits. Don't blame me for some unforeseen mishap."

"Well, at least we know there is no way I'm going to be that powerful," Mizurio said, trying to lighten the mood. "So, Uryu, before you light me like a firework, can I ask Keigo and Tatsuki something to get me better prepared?"

"Go right ahead," Uryu said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I can use the time to go through the movements a few more times to make sure things are going well on my end."

"So," Mizurio asked nervously to his two friends. "What exactly is the feeling I'm going to experience and for how long can I have to endure it?"

"It was so hot," Keigo said, "I felt like my whole insides were going to become charbroiled."

"That is how it felt," Tatsuki agreed, "But for how long, it was different for the both us; remember Keigo had to go through it longer than me, and Yang said that how much spirit energy you have affects how long it takes. Since you're the lowest of us, I'm afraid your in for the long haul."

"Well, that doesn't fill me with much in the way of confidence," Mizurio muttered, sweating slightly, "But I guess that I could last if you guys can."

"THAT'S THE SPIRIT, BUDDY!" Keigo shouted, giving Mizurio the thumbs up.

"Okay, Uryu get in front of Ichigo, Mizurio in front of Uryu, everyone else off to the side," Yang said, jerking his head to those he was talking to as Yin wandered over to a different group of trees to explore. Once everyone was where they were directed, Uryu looked over to Yang for conformation. Receiving a nod, he looked over to Mizurio, who gave him the same gesture. Placing his fingers to the mark on Ichigo's shoulder, Uryu concentrated on pulling his friend's energy from the mark. As the blue fire accumulated, Uryu pulled his left arm back towards him, drawing the flames along with his fingers. Continuing the process until he got up to his other shoulder Uryu started panting, starting to feel the draining effects of the process, before firing the bolt towards Mizurio.

This time, the witnesses heard a scream. Mizurio was actually pushed back by the force of the blow, tears stinging at his eyes as he felt the fire course through him. When everyone saw this, they were all hoping for this to be over fast, so that Mizurio would be able to stop feeling the pain, Keigo and Tatsuki especially since they experienced it firsthand. They all waited as the process went into five full minutes, Uryu sweating and panting heavily all waiting for the keyword.

"N-numb," Mizurio called out, his voice raspy from the yelling. Mimicking Yang, Uryu spun on his heels to finish before dropping to one knee. Mizurio however, wasn't as fortunate as he fell over onto his back, spread-eagle with his eyes wide open, panting heavily. Everyone ran over to his side, Tatsuki slightly overshooting and ending up on Mizurio's other side. Orihime started to call out to her Shun Shun Rikka when Mizurio started groaning before shutting his eyes and moving his hand to rub his eyes. Struggling to get up, Chad helped him into a sitting position with a frown on his face.

"You okay now?" Chad said. Opening his eyes which had turned to a bright green, Mizurio looked over at the others and yelled.

"Whoa, you guys look weird," he said, earning him a glare from Tatsuki.

"What do you mean by that? And think carefully before answering," she said, eyebrow twitching.

"I mean I can see these weird glowing things coming from you all," he said, turning his head to look at each in turn. "I mean, there's a glow around your arm," he pointed at Chad, "Your wrist," to Uryu, "The sides of your head," Orihime, "and there's this large thing on your back and a thinner thing hanging from your side," finishing with Ichigo.

"What can you see in me?" Keigo asked eagerly, pointing his finger to his chest over and over. Squinting, Mizurio looked thoughtful.

"Well, it's kinda all over your body," he said slowly, before looking downward, "and it looks like it ends in a tail." This caused Keigo to face-plant into the ground with Tatsuki holding her sides laughing. "And Tatsuki's are on her hands, feet, and her chest."

--WHAM--

"Ooowww," he moaned.

"That's what you get, you pervert!" Tatsuki shouted, her fist raised and her face bright red.

"I didn't mean it like that, Tatsuki," Mizurio whined, his left cheek bruising from her punch. "What I meant was--"

"Maybe he was talking about when you breathed fire, Tatsuki," Orihime suggested, wanting to stop the conflict before it went further.

"I believe she's right," Yang said finally. "When Mizurio was describing what he saw, he told you where your individual powers were generating from. If I had to guess, I'd say that what we are looking at is an enhanced version of spirit vision."

"So, he could find any enemies that are nearby," Uryu stated, a hand on his chin, "With enough training, he could also be able to tell us what to expect from an opponent in terms of power so we'll be better prepared in battle."

"Alright, since we now have a general idea about what everyone can do," Ichigo said, "How about we get down to training to be able to use them in battle, including me with kido."

Yang nodded. "That's right, now Mizurio," he looked over at the dark-haired boy "I suggest you turn off your eyes to conserve your spirit energy; just think about turning your eyes off." Nodding, Mizurio closed his eyes and focused. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes to show they were back to normal. Looking over at the orange-haired teenager, Yang said, "So if you'll turn to the chapter in the book where it talks about my master's kido style--"

"Wait," Ichigo interrupted, "Why can't I learn Soul Reaper kido? Why do I need this different style of kido?" At this, Yang looked over his shoulder before continuing.

"Well, before I answer that question," he said slowly, "I think I should tell you how the mark contains your spiritual pressure." At this, everyone moved in to hear.

"First, I should tell you about how soul reapers work in sealing their spiritual pressure," he continued. "When a non-seated or any seated soul reaper under lieutenant is sent to the human world, there really isn't anything needed to seal off since usually any Soul Reaper not captain-class doesn't have to worry about their spiritual pressure affecting humans. Captain-class Soul Reapers, like captains and lieutenants, need to have a special seal placed on their bodies and reduce their spiritual pressure down to 20% of their full power. If they encounter a hollow or any other enemy that's too big for them to handle at that level of power, they need to get clearance from the higher ranks to take down the seal. The only one who needs a constant seal on him is Captain Kenpachi Zaraki of Squad 11, which is another seal altogether."

"What's different about his seal?" Tatsuki asked, cocking her head to the side. This question was answered by Ichigo.

"His spiritual pressure is so large, he needs a special eye-patch which is constantly eating his spiritual pressure until he removes it," he said, "But he'll only do that when he's gotten to the point in a fight that he feels it will be 'more fun' to go all out, which is why he is always after me when we're in the Soul Society," he added bitterly.

"That's right," Yang said, "But the Mark of Oroborus works in a different way than that. Rather than cut you off from your spiritual pressure altogether or siphon it away, the mark takes it and makes that pressure wrap itself inside your body, making the spiritual pressure become denser. The more your power grows, the more layered it becomes and the more compressed the bottom layers become."

"So what does this have to do with Ichigo being unable to perform Soul Reaper kido?" Orihime asked tentatively. Yang took a deep breath before answering.

"Well, when my master learned what he calls 'classic kido', it didn't quite go the way he wanted it to."

"Oh, you mean he couldn't do kido well, so he made a style that would make the spells work for him," Tatsuki said, nodding understandingly.

"Oh, it worked," Yang said, shaking his head, "But the mark ends up making a person's spiritual pressure denser than normal; as such, the classic kido ends up working too well to be used in battle."

"How much is 'too well'?" Chad asked, curious about how a method of combat would be considered to work so good, it should be considered an off-limits thing.

"Let me put it this way," Yang replied. "If my master were to perform Bakudo #1, then his victim would end with his arms behind his back with both shoulders forced out of their sockets and that's the best-case scenario."

"WHAT?! What could the worst-case scenario after that?" Keigo yelled eyes wide in shock. Yang glanced over his shoulder before answering the question.

"The worst-case scenario is that the victim's arms will be again bound behind his back, but both arms will end up being torn off completely and the victim risks dying from blood loss." Yang said, quietly reaching a hand to scratch Yin's ears as the dog came over ignoring the open mouths of everyone else in front of him.

"I'D RISK TEARING OFF A PERSON'S ARMS OFF JUST FROM DOING THE LOWEST OF SOUL REAPER KIDO?!?!?!" Ichigo hollered, shaking Yang hard by the shoulders. Grabbing the hands that were causing him to be a living milkshake, Yang freed himself before continuing.

"That's why my master had this style of kido made," Yang said firmly. "Instead of using long incantations which the spells end up being pure spirit energy, he made the spells powered by physical movement from different martial arts forms. This incorporates physical power to balance out the denser spiritual pressure you have to work with so you'll in effect be doing the same spells but without the risks to using the right amount and getting the power of a large bomb instead."

"So, it's the same spells as 'classic' kido, but instead of incantations, I just practice forms," Ichigo guessed.

"Exactly," Yang said with a smile. "Also, I have another thing for you here." Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out two objects: one was an empty sword hilt with a worn-down leather wrap; the other looked like a packet of tic-tacs with two different colored candies in them. He held on to the hilt as he held out the candy.

"I advise that you all take one of each just to be safe," he advised before opening the top and taking one of each color himself before closing the top and tossing it to Ichigo who looked doubtful.

"The last time I took a strange pill, I ended up with Kon running around in my body and kissing Orihime and Tatsuki," he spoke flatly, forgetting that said girls were standing next to him. Orihime blushed at hearing this. Tatsuki, while red in the face, wasn't.

"Then why don't I remember that part?" she asked, smoke trailing from her nostrils. Ichigo started sweating at this.

"Well, Rukia used a device that Soul Reapers use to replace your memories that would compromise the existence of Soul Reapers," Ichigo mumbled, "Besides, if you had remembered, you would've killed me before I could explain myself."

"He-he has a point, Tatsuki," Keigo stammered, fearing her wrath now more than ever with he powers, "Y-y-you can be a bit aggressive when--" but he clammed up when she glared at him, cracking her knuckles threateningly.

"Well, if it makes ya feel better," Ichigo tried, "he is living at my house in a lion plushie that my sister calls Bostov; maybe tonight you can come over and take your revenge on him." While Tatsuki frowned in thought, Ichigo heard a sniffling coming from his mind. 'What's up with you?'

**You're sellin' out a guy to save your own skin,** Cazador said, sounding tearful. **Ichigo, I've never been more proud of you than right now. You're becoming more like me everyday.**

'Thanks for that nightmare; I'll save it for tonight when I fall asleep,' he thought angrily, before noticing the evil grin spreading across Tatsuki's face. No wait, that was the level above evil grin; it was a 'Kenpachi-has-found-a-good-fight-and-will-kill-said-person' grin.

"So, what's Yuzu cooking tonight?" she asked wickedly.

"Okay, getting back to the subject before you," Yang interrupted, shaking the candy container. "Now, these are energy pills; and before anyone says anything," he added seeing the look in the audience's gaze, "These are made by Kisuke Urahara to replenish either physical energy or spirit energy in case of emergency."

"Wait," Ichigo interrupted, "I know from first-hand experience about Mr. Hat-and-Clogs' inventions and, let me tell you, it doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence in this." At this, Yang rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Well as you can imagine," he explained, "There aren't that many jobs for Master Shadow and I; so, we made a deal with Kisuke: any battle-related inventions he makes will be beta-tested by us and in return, not only are we paid well, if there are specific ones that interests us, we're allowed to keep a supply for ourselves."

Picking out two more pills, he held them up for the others to see. "Now, pay attention," he said, "The blue ones" he spoke as placed the pill in between his fingers, "are meant to increase the spiritual energy of the person who ingests it by 2X it was previously, while the red ones," he pulled the extended fingers back before putting them up again, this time holding the other pill, "Is meant for boosting for physical strength, speed and stamina by a good 250%."

"Wow," Orihime said, staring at the small pill in awe.

"Now be warned, these take about 3 minutes to take affect," Yang spoke firmly, snatching the pills away. "Also, the effects last only 10 minutes, and when time is up, you are going to be weakened substantially for about 15 more minutes. This applies to both pill types. That's why they are only meant for emergencies."

"Okay," Chad said, "Only use it when you really need it." Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Good," Yang replied, "Now, for this other item here," he said holding up the hilt. "Ichigo, use this, it will bring out Zangetsu." He tossed it over to Ichigo who caught with both hands and stared at it for 10 seconds before turning back to the man who gave it to him.

"So, what am I supposed to do with this?" he said blankly.

"Well, as you've seen with Kisuke, there are some Soul Reapers who can call their zanpakuto while they're in their gigai," Yang said, "It takes time to learn how to do so, but that is why that" he pointed at the hit, "is so important: it not only teaches a Soul Reaper how to bring his or her zanpakuto to the material world, but it also works as part of your training in how to seal your zanpakuto and control your spirit energy to perform kido."

"Wait," Mizurio said, "I thought his mark made it so he could control his spirit energy, so why this?"

"While the mark has reigned in the seemingly inordinate amount of spiritual pressure Ichigo has," Yang explained "it doesn't teach him how to control his pressure so he has to learn how to do so as he has with shikai(first release) and bankai."

"Well, I guess that means we're learning together at Level 1 together, huh Ichigo?" Keigo said, nudging Ichigo in the ribs before getting jabbed in the nose by said friend.

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here guys," he said flatly before turning to Yang. "So, the problem is I never had to summon Zangetsu from his sealed state after I learned it from training with Urahara."

"You know his name right?" Yang asked knowing the answer.

"I wouldn't be calling him by his name if I didn't, would I?"

"Well, maybe he doesn't need it, since your blade is in a constant shikai form. Therefore, perhaps just calling him by his name will be enough." Everyone turned to gaze at the hilt in Ichigo's hand.

Turning back, Ichigo smiled. "There's only one way to find out."

* * *

_Seireitei, Squad 12, Research & Development Squad Communications Technology Department Spiritual Wave Measurement Lab…_

Things had gone very bad for those in Squad 12's monitoring station of Karakura as of late. Since the incident of last night, or as the liked to call it 'That idiot Kurosaki making more work for us here in the Soul Society by nearly dropping of the face of the Earth', they were put on 24/7 observing to see if he or the masked guy who fought Captain Zaraki would appear again. If either came up, they were to report to either Lieutenant or Captain Kurotsuchi, the former being the preferred choice.

"Nothing here… like it's been for the past hour," complained a large, frog-like man with bolts around his eyes and a crank on the left side of his head, wearing the smock that all the researchers had to wear over their shihaksho. "The only thing that's happened is these three increases in spiritual pressure from some humans, but there isn't anything else. This is torture. It's the waiting that gets to you." Then he turned his head to holler over his right shoulder. "Rin! Stop stuffing your face!!" The brown-haired scientist who was munching on a sweet jumped at being called. "Can't you see we're thirsty?! Bring us some tea!!"

Glancing nervously, Rin started sweating before responding. "O-okay! Right away…" It wasn't fair. If it wasn't for him, no one would know that this was happening until it was too late. _He_ reported Ichigo Kurosaki's drop in spiritual pressure and the masked man's brief rise in his. Now, he isn't even treated like—his thoughts were interrupted by glancing at the monitor and noticing the blib.

"HEY, I'VE GOT SOMETHING!!" At this, all the other scientists turned to look at him. "Positional Axis--3600 to 4000! Eastern Karakura, Tokyo!! Correction and acquisition, please!!" Immediately jumping to action, the frog man started typing away at the keyboard, looking frantic.

"Hey. How's it going?" called another scientist from the doorway. This one had dark hair and the smock of Squad 12. The discerning feature he had was the two horns on his forehead.

"Akon! Perfect Timing!" the frog scientist yelled.

"Huh?" Akon was confused at the urgency in his fellow scientist's voice.

"Look!" The scientist looked over at Akon and spoke gravely. "They're here."

* * *

_Karakura Town…_

The air was still as everyone went about their business, until a bright beam shot straight down towards the ground. Though no one seemed to notice the beam, the crash and kick-up of dust was enough to merit the attention of everyone nearby.

"Wh--"

"What the--?! Something crashed!!"

Then, the thick dust started to clear away. There before the people, stood two figures in inverted shihakshos, each with a sword stuck in their black sashes. The one standing behind was a giant; he had dark hair on the sides of his head and three ridges running along the top of it, red marks all around his eyes, a jawbone with teeth on the bottom half of his face, and his shirt open in the front, exposing a large hole in the center of his exposed chest. He had his arms crossed, looking bored.

The other one looked more normal. He was smaller with black hair, bone white skin and green eyes, with green lines running underneath them. On the left side of the top of his head sat a broken white helmet with a twisted horn. His shihaksho was made with the top to be a tailcoat, buttoned to the collar. His face had no emotion, even as he reached up and undid the collar of his coat, revealing a hole at the base of his throat.

All this went under the gaze of the people who couldn't see it.

* * *

_Karakura Park..._

"What's happening over there?" asked Mizurio while everyone stared in awe at the large dust cloud appearing over the treetops. They were all in astonishment at the sight of the beam then feeling the earth trembling beneath them.

"Whatever that is," said Uryu, shifting up his glasses with a grim expression on his face, "I don't believe that was the end of it."

No sooner had the words left his mouth then the explosion of spiritual pressure hit them. No one moved from their positions due to the stress on their muscles; their breath caught in their lungs as they wondered what could possibly produce something like this. The only ones who seemed unaffected were Yang and Yin, the latter snarling in the direction of the explosion. Then, as quickly as it came, the pressure lifted, leaving the teenagers panting heavily and sweating.

"What was that?" Chad said.

"I can only say that it's not from a source that can have good intentions," Yang spoke, a frown placed heavily on his brow as Yin continued to growl. Looking over at the canine, he said, "Yin, I need you to get Master Shadow; tell him to get Kisuke and Yoruichi and that Aizen is making his move." Nodding, Yin ran to a tree before merging into the shade and vanishing.

"How did he do that?" Orihime asked with a tilt of her head.

"Yin is a Shadow being; a creature born in the Shadow World before partnering with a special human that he chooses to aid in the Human World," Yang explained.

"Now, then," Ichigo said, "How about we go over there and give Tatsuki, Keigo and Mizurio a taste of what life's like for the other side?" With everyone nodding, they started running towards the blast zone.

* * *

_Kurosaki Clinic…_

"Where's Ichigo?" Yuzu said worriedly, seeing as how when her brother disappeared, no one would see him for days, even weeks. Even though she saw him during the summer, Yuzu was certain that Ichigo had been an imposter, since whenever she was near him he'd get scared and sneak away from her.

"He must be out with a secret girlfriend!" Isshin cried out with a knowing smile on his face. "WELL DONE, MY BOY!! YOU'VE MADE YOUR OL' DAD PROUD!"

"You know," Karin said flatly, "Whenever you talk like that, I feel this incessant need to hurt you in a very personal way."

"Oh, Karin," he said, wagging his finger with a twinkle in his eye and a wide grin on his lips, "Someday you too will understand what your brother's going through…" then his face went into a fierce look, "…AND WHEN THAT DAY COMES, I'LL BE THERE TO MAKE HIM PROVE HIMSELF AS WORTHY OF--" at this, Karin hit him in the stomach before kicking through into the wall.

"Stop talking like that, you old freak!" she hollered before walking up the stairs to her room, faintly hearing Yuzu patching up their dad and scolding him for 'embarrassing Karin when she was at a confusing age.'

When she walked through her door, Karin went over and sat on her bed, thinking. Worrier that her sister was, she did have a point. Until Ichigo became a Soul Reaper, the only times when he was late coming home from school was when he was either helping stray spirits or in a fight against jerks and thugs who picked on him because of his hair. Now, she wanted him to come home so she could talk to him about her activities with Jinta and Ururu. Maybe, she could convince him to let her fight those things on a regular basis.

Then, she felt an explosion of pressure crushing down hard on her body; she felt it suffocating her, choking her, stealing the life from her body. Her eyes widened as she faintly felt her brother near the source of the monster pressure. Now, she was afraid: afraid her brother would get seriously hurt, afraid he would die, afraid that no one would be able to put their family back together if it happened.

'Ichigo,' she thought begging, 'Please come back.'

* * *

_On top of the __Karakura Mall…_

"Okay," Shadow said slowly, sipping his soda thoughtfully. "That was either a small earthquake while someone was using high-voltage lighting equipment, a warning shot from an alien invasion or something really bad." Then he felt the spiritual pressure. Looking down, he saw his drink being stirred from the vibrations. He sighed as he glanced at his left hand which had the middle and forefinger crossed before rolling his head back on his shoulders.

"Why is it when you want a natural disaster or an extraterrestrial doomsday, neither actually show up?" Sucking down the last of his diet coke, he pulled his mask back into place before setting the cup on the rooftop; looking to make sure no one was looking and backing up before running to the edge and jumping onto the adjacent rooftop.

Landing on all fours, Shadow straightened up to see Yin coming out of the shadows at a run before slowing down to stand in front of him panting.

"So, things are going down bad then?" Shadow asked. Yin looked down and started to hit the ground with his paw in Morse code. Squatting down with his head leaned down to feel the message that he was getting. When it was over, Shadow got up and looked at Yin. "All right, go back to the others. Tell your brother that I'm getting Mad Hatter and Catwoman to meet up with them; I'll try to hurry, but remind him I can't fly in broad daylight here; also, don't let Ichigo or any of the others take an unnecessary chances."

With a quick wag of his tail, Yin jumped down from the rooftop to the alley below and vanished into the shadows. Running over to the ladder, Shadow slid down before dropping the rest of the way down. Looking around, he searched for Yang's spiritual pressure. 'Okay, there he is,' he thought. 'Now I just need to get in touch with Kisuke and tell him what's going on.'

Pulling out a cellphone, he pushed the speed dial and waited while the phone rang. "Hey Kisuke," he said. "You know that spiritual pressure just now? Well, three guesses who is headed that way right now. Right, I'll meet you and Yoruichi there and we can be sure to keep those hot-blooded youngsters don't get in over their heads."

Hanging up, Shadow started speeding towards the nearest alley before waiting to do so again. 'All right, Aizen. Let's see how your soldiers stand up against this city's defense force. I just hope I don't miss their big debut.'

* * *

_**Next Time on Shadows Are Rising:**_

"Yammy, take care of these pieces of trash."

"What's happening to me?"

"You're not hurting our friend while we're here."

"Ambush your prey, Yin!"

* * *

_**Everyone have a Happy Valentine's Day! Just be sure to keep an eye out on Friday the 13**__**th**__**; be wary of black cats, broken mirrors, spilled salt, and zombie, machete-wielding psychos: which ever you consider to be the worst case of bad luck. Also, I've set up a poll for those who think my story needs a pairing. If you have a specific pairing in mind, send in your suggestion in a review. See ya!**_

**--Twin Shadows**


	6. Chapter 5: White Soldiers' First Strike

_**I've put up a poll for anyone who thinks that I need a pairing(s) in my story. Later, I'll have a list of pairings that you want in the story; you get up to four in which pairings you want. Now, I will point out that, while they are going to be in the story, I suck at writing romance so it will be attributed to flirting, crushes or family love. To the reviewers:**_

_**J'aime Manga: I'm pleased that you found my ideas on the kido and spiritual pressure transfer so fascinating. I hope you won't be disappointed with the first battle of the story.**_

_**Okami Princess: I am admittedly a fan of IchiRuki pairing, but I've already figured out how to work it into the story, just not in a romantic way. Hope you can forgive me if you were hoping for that. By the way, what does the word "cameo" mean? Please tell me.**_

_**Also, it would help me if anyone who has an idea what Bakudo and Hado names, incantations, and numbers there are that haven't been seen in the manga or anime would send a review to me with those things. It would make the "Shadow-style" of kido a bit broader in how many spells that can be done and which martial arts forms should be used for each spell.**_

_**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to Bleach in any way, shape, or form. I do claim ownership to my OCs, however, so if anyone needs to borrow them for one of their stories, just send a review requesting the use, along with a basic idea of the story you're writing and the promise they won't be used as villains. I wouldn't mind if they were either made into anti-heroes or anti-villains, just no making them classic villains.**_

**-- TwinShadows**

**Shadows Are Rising**

**Chapter 5: White Soldiers' First Strike**

_Soul Society, Seireitei, Squad 1…_

"Sir!" said a messenger said, kneeling before the head-captain, "Squad 12 reports sign of arrancars in Eastern Karakura!!" Yamamoto simply sat there, waiting for the message to be completed. "They've detected two of them! Judging from their spiritual pressure, density, and stability, we believe they're fully developed!!" The leader of the Seireitei, breathing calmly, seemed deep in thought in light of the news.

"Also," the messenger continued, startling Yamamoto though he didn't let it show physically, "We're unsure at this time if this is related, but before the readings showed the arrancar, there was a rise in three different spiritual pressures, all from Karakura Park nearby." This part of the message caused his superior frown, his age showing on his wrinkled and scarred brow.

* * *

_Karakura Park…_

"How long do we have to go before we get there?" Uryu said to Yang. They had all been running for five minutes and still seemed to be getting no closer to the blast site.

"Hard to say, since the pressure was too large to pinpoint specifically," Yang said, "However, we were able to get a general location in the eastern part of the city." Out of the tree's shade came Yin, running alongside Yang who looked at him. "Well?" Yin looked over at him and squinted slightly. Yang nodded at this and returned his gaze to face forward. "I got it."

"What did he say?" Chad asked.

"Master Shadow is on is way, and Urahara and Yoruichi are not far behind," he replied. "Also, to 'not take any unnecessary risks,' like we need any reminders."

"How can ya tell what he's saying? He can't talk," Mizurio protested.

"Like a soul reaper communicates with his or her zanpakuto, Yin and I have a telepathic link," Yang said, "We can talk to each other with our minds."

"Wow," Orihime said in awe.

"Say Uryu, how come you haven't done your Speedy-Quincy move yet to get to that blast area?" Ichigo asked. Uryu glared as he pushed up his glasses.

"It's called Hirnenkyaku," he said, "And the only reason I'm still here is because unlike you, I'm not reckless enough to charge head first into battle without knowing anything about my enemies."

"Why you--"

"If you guys are done with your big argument," Tatsuki interrupted, "Maybe we should try finding out where these guys are so that we can be sure they don't hurt any innocent bystanders!"

"She's right," Chad spoke carefully.

"Now, let's save our breath for running and our strength for the opponents who will be waiting for us," Yang said, ending the conversation and leaving everyone with a feeling of uneasiness about the near future.

* * *

_Eastern Karakura, the blast site…_

"Ha," the large arrancar said gazing around the crater, "I've been here a few times in a mask. The world of the living is such a bore. The ectoplasm's so thin you can hardly breathe!"

Ulquiorra turned his head to look over his left shoulder at his fellow arrancar. "Stop complaining," he said in a monotonous drone. "I told you I could do this alone. You were the one who wanted to come along, Yammy."

"All right, I'm sorry," Yammy mumbled as he walked out of the crater before noticing the crowd that had gathered around.

"What is it?"

"A meteor?"

"I don't see anything…"

"Then what is it?!"

"Don't get too close."

"Who are these guys?" Yammy frowned cracking is neck, growing more annoyed by the staring of all the people around him. "Stop staring at me." At that point, he finally grew to where he snapped. "I'll suck out your souls." Puffing out his chest, Yammy started to take in a deep breath.

All around the crater, people began to scream in pain. Then, their spirits began to be dragged from their mouths and eyes. Then, all around, souls began to culminate towards his awaiting gullet.

* * *

_10 miles from the arrancar crash site…_

"What the…" Shadow stood staring as all around him, people began dropping dead from having their souls torn from their bodies. Punching the wall in frustration and leaving an imprint of his fist in it, he pulled out his wings and took off.

"Isn't it just my luck that I can get to Yang and the kids," he muttered, beating his wings against the air as hard as he could, "but only after innocent people are already dead and can't see me fly?"

'If those two harm any of those kids or my sons when I get there,' Shadow thought darkly before saying out loud, "I'll give them pain back a hundred fold."_

* * *

_

Half a mile from the arrancar crash site…

"Wh-what's going on, guys?" Keigo stuttered as the group saw the souls fly over their heads in waves. Then, Keigo, Tatsuki and Mizurio grabbed their chests, cringing in pain.

"Oh no," Orihime said scared, "Are you guys okay?" In desperation, she turned to Yang for information. "Why are they acting like this? What's hurting them?"

"Whatever crashed earlier is sucking out the souls of anyone nearby," he said frowning. "You're lucky that your powers and spiritual pressures have been increased before now or else you might have lost your souls as well."

"Yeah," Tatsuki grunted in pain, "We're so lucky." After a few seconds, the souls stopped crossing the sky and Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizurio stopped feeling pain.

"If these people are strong enough to pull souls out of their bodies from a long distance," Uryu said, "Then, there's no telling just how much damage they could do if they aren't stopped soon."

"We'd better hurry," Chad agreed. With that, they continued running, only now they had to go slower to make sure that the three who had been affected by the force would be able to have their strength for the battle.

_Ichigo…_

'What is it, Zangetsu?'

_If you do need to call me to fight, be careful. Remember, you are now in your human body, which is not only weaker against their attacks, but also…_

'But also what?'

**He's nervous that ya won't even be able to lift him, let alone fight with him.**

At this, Ichigo faltered for a moment. 'Wait, what?'

_While you may have developed strength enough to wield me in your soul reaper form, your human body may not have that strength, so when I am summoned, be on your guard._

**Yeah! Don't screw this up for us partner, or I'm gonna kick yer ass!!**

"What's wrong, Ichigo?" Chad asked, making everyone look over at him.

"Nothing, Chad," he replied. "Just getting some last-minute pointers from Zangetsu and Cazador. Now let's get those creeps!" With that, they picked up speed to the enemy._

* * *

_

Arrancar crater…

"Haaah!!" Yammy sighed, "Yuck!!"

"Of course," Ulquiorra said as he walked up from the crater to stand beside Yammy. "Did you expect thin souls like those to taste good?"

"Well, those guys were staring at me like I was a freak!" Yammy whined.

"They couldn't see us," Ulquiorra sighed, "They were looking at the crater."

"Well, they annoyed me!" Yammy argued. "So, how many do we have to kill?!" he asked fiercely.

"Just one. There's no need to kill the others." If Yammy had looked closely at Ulquiorra's eyes, he might have caught the rare sight of emotion in them for the briefest of moments.

"Only one of these ants?!" Yammy asked, chuckling incredulously at the idea.

"I hear there are only three with spiritual pressure high enough to fight us in this whole world," Ulquiorra said, letting his eyes wander around the clearing, as if expecting someone to come out at any time. "The rest are garbage. They should be easy to find."_

* * *

_

Seireitei, Kuchiki mansion…

Rukia was packing her things for her mission to the Living World. Somehow, Captain Hitsugaya had persuaded her brother to let her go along with Renji and the others and now needed to be prepared for what they may find there.

Halfway through, she started to let her mind go back to what Renji told her about earlier. That bothered her more than anything.

_/1 hour earlier…/_

_"What do you mean Renji?" she asked, her voice actually shaking. "Is-is he--"_

_"NO, no, no, he's not dead!!" Renji said hurriedly, waving his arms in front of his chest. "But Captain Kurotsuchi thinks that he has a barrier around him which is making it harder for us to find him."_

_Rukia looked down at the ground, her hair shadowing her eyes and her shoulders started shaking._

_"If you don't feel that you're up to this, I'll understand," Renji said, "I could tell Captain Hitsugaya tha--"_

_"Don't you dare, Renji," she replied fiercely, looking up to stare indignantly at her old friend. "I'm coming with you and that's that." Knowing that the old Rukia was back, Renji smiled and nodded before using shunpo to give the news to Captain Hitsugaya, leaving Rukia with her thoughts._

_/Return to Present/_

Looking down at her hands, Rukia thought about how much things changed in her life since Ichigo came barging into her life. Before, she had to hide who she was; she was a Kuchiki, so emotions were supposed to be beneath her. But with him and his friends, she didn't have to hide. She could yell and argue with him, and she enjoyed it when she hit him for insulting her height or her art skills. It made her feel wanted, a feeling she hadn't experienced since Kaien and Miyako Shiba had treated her back when she first joined Squad 13.

'If that man has hurt Ichigo, Orihime, Chad, Uryu or anyone else,' she thought as she reached for her zanpakuto, 'I'll use my blade to force feed him his own intestines.' Then, she heard someone knock on her door. Putting her things aside, she straightened her robes before calling out, "Come in." The door opened to reveal her brother Byakuya, though only Ichigo and Yoruichi actually called him by his first name. Bowing, Rukia asked, "What do you need of me, brother?"

"You are intending to depart to the living soon, correct?" he said, not moving any more than necessary.

"I have to, brother," she said quietly, "It's my duty as a soul reaper to take on any enemies that--"

"Is that your real reason," he interrupted, "or is it because it involves Ichigo Kurosaki?" This caused Rukia to stare at her brother in astonishment before realizing that that was what he wanted her to do. Looking away, she waited for him to start lecturing her about how she shouldn't be letting her personal feelings get in the way of her duty.

"Make sure that you have everything you need," he said turning to leave. "Be sure to double check, and if you are missing anything, inform the servants and they will be sure to help you get it."

"Bro-brother," she stuttered, completely floored that her brother was actually being understanding to her.

"Don't misunderstand, Rukia," he called over his shoulder, "I'm making sure you can carry out your mission successfully." Placing his hand on the door, he paused. "Also, remember about what I told about the boy's _other_ side and be careful if it comes out." With that, he walked out of the room closing the door behind him.

Rukia just sat back onto her bed, her mind troubled once again. Ever since her brother had told her about the hollow inside Ichigo that had nearly killed him during her execution, she had been sure to keep an eye out for it coming out the whole time she had been in the living world with the bount incident. So far, she hadn't seen anything like that happen, but she'd be damned if she had to go through what happened to Kaien happen again.

* * *

_Arrancar crash site…_

"We're here," Yang said raising his hand to indicate that they should stop. Currently, they were hiding in a bush about 100 yards away from the crater, looking at the two figures standing beside it. "And it would appear that we are facing a pair of arrancar."

"So, they're responsible for this," Ichigo stated. Yang nodded, his eyes still focused on the two in the clearing. "Well let's go welcome them." Before he could move however, he felt someone grab his arm and pull him forcefully to the ground. Turning around, he saw it was Uryu glaring at him.

"Don't be so reckless, Ichigo," he said firmly, "We don't know what they're capable of. Don't forget, Mizurio can see spirit energy; let him see which we should focus our attacks on."

"What are you talking about?" Keigo put in, "All we have to do is take out the little guy first and--" before getting hit in the head by Tatsuki.

"Fighting power doesn't revolve around size alone idiot," she whispered harshly.

"She's right, Keigo," Orihime said, "One of the Soul Reaper Captains we've worked with before looks like he is as young as Ichigo's sisters and he's very strong."

"I'll take a look," Mizurio cut in, before closing his eyes and concentrating his spirit energy to his eyes and opening them to see with his enhanced sight. Squinting slightly, he looked at the two figures before his eyes widened in shock.

"What do you see, Mizurio?" Chad whispered.

"The big guy is strong; I can see his spiritual pressure from here…"

"Hah!" Keigo whispered to Tatsuki but Uryu held up his hand to silence him.

"…but the other one has something else," Mizurio continued shaking. "It-it's still as a pond, but it's massive." At this, Tatsuki grinned smugly at Keigo who was looking pensive.

"So, we must be prepared with a battle plan if we're to have a fair chance," Uryu said carefully, before the larger arrancar called out.

"Are you going to do anything or just hide in the bushes?" This made everyone's eyes widen in shock; they knew from the moment that the group had arrived that they were there. "If not, then I might have to get assertive to rid of my boredom."

"Alright guys," Ichigo said standing up, "I'm going to draw their attention while you guys think of a plan."

"Ichigo that's suicide," Uryu protested, "If you think we're just going to--"

"Listen, Uryu" Ichigo interrupted, "If they're going to fight us and we expect to survive long enough for help to get here, we need a plan. Also, Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizurio still don't have any true battle experience, so they'll need to follow someone like you, someone who can think clearly, instead of me, who only makes a basic plan midway into the fight."

Uryu just stared at him in astonishment. Here was Ichigo Kurosaki, a textbook case of irrational thinking and stubbornness, admitting that his traditional method wasn't going to work and that he, Uryu, had to figure out how to make sure that everyone's skills would work to the best solution.

"Look, Shadow already explained some things about arrancars, which I'm guessing is who we're facing right now," Ichigo continued, "Some things, that might help you would be that their skin is tougher than normal hollows, their zanpakuto are their powers in blade form, so if I can make them show a little bit of their fighting styles, that could help you guys come up with a plan." Turning to look back, he gave them a reassuring smile. "Now, make sure that there aren't any holes in the plans and everything will be okay."

"Ichigo," Orihime whimpered. Tatsuki put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, before turning to Ichigo.

"Just promise that you'll come back, okay?" she asked. Ichigo nodded and walked out to face Yammy.

"So, just one little bug coming out to play with me," he said, grinning wicked at Ichigo. Looking over his shoulder, he called out, "Hey, Ulquiorra. Is this the guy?"

"What's wrong?" Ichigo called out, pulling out the sword hilt from his pocket. "Do you still need Daddy's permission to do things? Huh?"

Looking at the one before him, Ulquiorra studied him carefully. 'Lord Aizen said that our target was a Soul Reaper with orange hair and a black bankai,' he thought, 'While this boy has the hair color, he is in a human body, the only form of zanpakuto he has is that hilt and I sense that his spiritual pressure is only that of trash. Still…'

"Yammy, you need to develop your pesquisa (detection nerves)," he said aloud, "He's trash."

"Hey," Ichigo called out, holding up the hilt. "Don't judge me before you have a chance to see me in action." Thrusting out the hilt, Ichigo began charging his spiritual pressure. "Here we go, ZANGETSU!!"

An explosion of electric blue energy burst through the area, the wind whipping the tree branches, clothes and hair of everyone present. Yammy held up his hand to shield his eyes from the light, while Ulquiorra merely stared disinterested, his hands in his pockets. When the dust settled, everyone saw Ichigo holding his cleaver-sized zanpakuto, the white ribbon on the end waving gently in the dying wind. Hefting it up, Ichigo held it with two hands.

"_THAT'S _his sword?!" Mizurio asked incredulously.

"HOW CAN HE EVEN LIFT THAT THING, LET ALONE USE IT IN A FIGHT?!" Keigo shouted before Tatsuki covered his mouth muttering, "Keep it quiet, dumbass".

"Usually, Ichigo is in spirit form when he uses Zangetsu," Uryu explained, "And since Soul Reapers in spirit form are stronger than when in a physical body, he can even fight with one hand."

"But now, he'll have to adapt to a completely different fighting style since he has to use more of his strength to wield it," Tatsuki said, still reeling from seeing Ichigo's sword this up close. The only other time she had seen it was yesterday and at a distance while he was running from the school while the classroom was on the third floor. Now, she could see why people thought he was scary: combine his scowl and the physical power it took to swing a gargantuan blade like that, and anyone would be afraid of him.

"Now," Yang said, "Pay close attention, everyone. If we want to end this before he gets hurt, we'd better not miss anything about either of them." At this, everyone turned back to look at the fight preparing to erupt.

* * *

_5 miles from the crash site…_

"Okay," Shadow panted as he landed on a nearby roof, wings folded behind him and hands on his knees, "Maybe rush flying wasn't such a hot idea. If they're in trouble, I'll need as much of my strength as possible."

"You must be getting old, Shadow," came a phony cheerful voice from behind. Turning his head to look, Shadow saw a blonde-haired man with a green-and-white-striped bucket hat which covered the top part of his face while the lower part of his face was wearing a grin and covered in stubble; he was wearing a green jacket over a white leisure suit and wooden sandals on his feet. In his right hand, he was waving himself with a white paper fan, and in his left, he was gripping a wooden cane; in reality, this was his zanpakuto, Benihime, in its sealed state.

Next to him was an attractive dark-skinned woman with long, purple hair tied up into a ponytail and golden-yellow eyes. She wore a pair of tight, black pants and white shoes with shin guards on her bare feet; she had an orange shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, showing the ends of the black sleeves of her undershirt on her arms, which were crossed under her breasts; she had one of her eyebrows raised with the corners of her mouth in a frown.

"You know, Kisuke," Shadow said bluntly, "I'm not that old, so how about you and Yoruichi use your energy to get to those kids out of trouble, huh?"

"Shadow," Yoruichi said reproachfully, "You're older than Head-Captain Yamamoto; if that isn't old, I don't know what is." She smiled before continuing. "Why don't you act your age for once instead of your shoe size?"

"Ha! The day I start acting my age is the day one of two things will happen: either Mad Hatter over here," he jerked his thumb to Urahara, "Decides to stop with the crazy inventing and actually sell stuff at his shop", at this, Urahara waved his fan, muttering "I _do_ sell things at my shop.", "Or you finally get bored of changing from your cat form to your normal form naked to get a reaction out of anyone in front of you."

Yoruichi just grinned like a cat that ate a canary, "Well, it's fun to do, especially with Ichigo; he's so innocent, it never gets old seeing his face go red and having him yell his head off at me. How can I stop when something as fun as _that_ is going for me?"

Even with the mask in place, it was obvious he was staring in astonishment at what she just said. "Yoruichi," he said, "After this fight, I'm going to set you up with a nice psychiatrist so you can discuss that really disturbing thrill of yours with him or her." With that, he took off, his wings beating as he flew towards the arrancars.

"You know that he'll never do that," Kisuke said reassuringly, putting his fan away and looking at his old friend.

"Oh I know," she said smirking mischievously. "He just hates it that _he's_ the one who started my 'really disturbing thrill' when I first learned how to transform and showed it to him." With that, both former Soul Reapers flash stepped after him._

* * *

_

Seireitei, Squad 12, Captain's Quarters…

Kurotsuchi had been on his monitors since his subordinates had found the arrancar and the three unknown sources had appeared. If they were interesting enough, he wanted to be able to study them personally. Of course, if the Quincy was near them, he could get a better idea of that part.

Unknown to everyone else, he had planted special bacteria on the Quincy during their battle back during the ryoka invasion. They allowed him to spy on the Quincy and everything he and his friends did. It came in handy when looking for new research subjects. Until now however, he hadn't needed them since he had lost his powers. But it didn't hurt to check and be sure._

* * *

_

Crash site…

Yammy stared at the young man that just brought out the giant black and silver cleaver before laughing loudly, grabbing his stomach. "BAHAHAHA! What is this?! A little bug with a knife? HAHA! I haven't seen anything this ridiculous since I was looking at the world through my mask's eyeholes! HAHAHA!!" With each laugh, Ichigo felt the ground shake.

"Yammy," Ulquiorra called out, "Stop wasting time and take care of this trash so we can continue with our mission." Glancing over at the bushes, he spoke to Ichigo. "Boy, do you intend to fight us by yourself? You'll only be destroying yourself."

"Yeah?" Ichigo called back, "Well, let's see if that's true after I'm done with your friend here." With that, he pulled his arms back and charged forward, Zangetsu's edge reflecting the afternoon light. Yammy brought his right arm up as Ichigo swung his blade downward on the arrancar. The result was that Zangetsu cut through the material of Yammy's jacket and had hit his arm, but cutting deep enough only to allow a small trickle of blood to seep down the blade's edge and staining the white material crimson.

"Huh," Yammy said, pulling a bored face, "Is that it? I thought I'd get some fun at least." With that he pushed his arm forward, shoving Ichigo back skidding until he fell backwards and rolled over twice before he pushed himself upright, Zangetsu held point down.

**What the hell was that?! Get your head in the game already, Ichigo. We're fallin' behind!!**

'I'm trying; this guy's tough, I could barely cut him.'

**Have you gone mad?!?! Do you or don't you have bankai?!?!**

_We must work fast, Ichigo; the sooner we can have reveal his skills, the sooner your friends can find a way to defeat him._

"Gotcha," Ichigo said, holding his zanpakuto out in front of him, his left arm supporting his right. "If I want to do this, I'll have to do this right." His spiritual pressure began to skyrocket as Zangetsu's cloth wrapped tightly around his right arm. "Time to get serious. BANKAI!!"

The air exploded with Ichigo's spiritual pressure, kicking up a miniature cyclone in the area. Yammy's eyes widened in astonishment at this, while Ulquiorra merely stared unblinkingly at the scene, his face not betraying the curiosity of what this boy before him was going to do. Behind Ichigo, everyone was holding their arms up in an attempt to shield themselves from any debris larger than dust that might head their way.

As the dust settled, everyone saw Ichigo. Chad, Orihime, and Uryu had already seen him in his bankai so there wasn't any surprise apart from him wearing his school uniform instead of his shihaksho, but to Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizurio, this was something new for them. He stood there with a long, black coat reaching down to his ankles, the ends were jagged and worn, the top tight on his torso and his arms down to his wrists. In his right hand, instead of the large cleaver of Zangetsu, there was now a long, all-black katana with a guard shaped in the kanji for "full", a black and red wrap around the hilt and a broken chain attached to the end.

"Tensa Zangetsu (Heavenly Chain Moon Cutter)," Ichigo said, looking hard at the two opponents.

"WHOA," Keigo said in awe, "If he showed up to school like that, he'd be a total babe magnet. Wonder if I could be like that?"

"Yeah, but I doubt he'd actually want it," Mizurio put in. "Also, you couldn't pull it off."

"But, if that's his sword's strongest form, how come it's so small?" Tatsuki asked, looking to the senior members of their group.

"His spiritual pressure gets compressed into his small blade rather than make it a large thing," Uryu said, pushing up his glasses.

"That means he can move faster than even a normal Soul Reaper using a technique called 'Flash Step'," Chad said.

"Bankai?" Yammy scratched his head in confusion before he called out, "Hey Ulquiorra, are you sure he's trash? He seems like a strong Soul Reaper to me."

"No Yammy," Ulquiorra said, closing his eyes slowly, which for him was as close to looking embarrassed as he got. "I thought it was strange that he had orange hair like our target." Opening his eyes again, he gave his partner appointed look. "That black bankai proves it for me however; we made an error in judgment. He is our target, Yammy."

"Que Suerte! (What Luck!)" Yammy yelled, grinning wildly. He brought his right fist back and started to swing it at Ichigo. "You just saved us the trouble ooooooofffff yyyyyyyyoooooooouuuuuuuu!!!" When he started talking, his speech started to slow down as did his movement. Ichigo cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"What the hell?" he said, "Is he trying to make his attack more dramatic or something?"

_Be mindful of your surroundings, Ichigo. You may learn something even when in the midst of battle._

'What do you mean, master?' he asked. Looking over at the smaller arrancar, he saw that he hadn't moved at all, which was weird since he seemed like the type to criticize when he thought something was wrong. Looking over at the guy in front, Ichigo saw he was only about halfway with his punch. 'Why isn't he--?' until he saw over the guy's shoulder: there were a flock of birds flying away from the scene… and he could actually see all the movements of their wing beats.

"What's going on here?" he thought out aloud. Then he remembered something. 'Wait. What did Shadow say last night?'

"_Well, your spirit energy would be easier to control, yes," Shadow said vaguely. "So, you'd be able to use kido and sense other's spiritual pressure. Also, since your bankai is already based on the compression of your spirit energy giving you your intense speed, with the mark on, you'd only be able to go a great deal faster."_

'So this is what he meant when he said 'faster',' he thought.

**Well, what're ya waitin' for partner, a 'pretty please'? Stop waitin' around and block this guy!**

"No problem," he said with a confident grin on his face as he raised his sword to block…

(Normal speed)

"You just saved us the trouble off finding you!!!" Yammy swung his punch at the soul reaper, fully intending on crushing his opponent into the ground. His fist was closing in… before being halted mid-swing. Blinking, he saw his target was holding up his sword to stop the attack. "Huh? What gives?"

"I was asking that myself," Uryu said squinting at the scene. "I was sure that Ichigo hadn't moved when he attacked, but then I blinked and his arm's there. Mizurio, use your eyes to track him."

"Right," he said, turning to look at Ichigo his eyes glowing green. The bystanders had their gazes focused on the conflict just as hard. Uryu, Yang and Chad kept their eyes on all three of them, studying what type of attack patterns and for any weaknesses. Mizurio, Orihime and Tatsuki had their eyes on Ichigo, trying to see if he was in danger and if they could see him move again.

(Bankai Speed)

**This ain't no time ta be admiring yer handy work, kid! Ya've got 'im off guard so start hackin' away!!!**

"You don't have to tell me that," Ichigo said, pushing Yammy's arm back. "But how do I know I can cut him and really do damage this time?"

_Your spiritual pressure is denser than before, Ichigo. I will cut through this time._

"Alright, here I come." With that, he pulled his arm back and swung his black sword at the arm, cutting it clean through as ribbons of blood slowly began to form.

(Normal speed)

Yammy was stunned. This little bug hadn't even moved fro his position, but he felt something push him; it pushed him hard enough to actually throw him off balance. He wasn't alone in his confusion either; everyone was open mouthed at what they were seeing. Ichigo hadn't moved at all so how could he…?

Their thoughts stopped when they saw Yammy's arm become separated from his body, right below the shoulder. Even Ulquiorra was shocked if his eyes widening were any indication. Everyone else, except Yang and Yin, had their mouths open in astonishment. What's more, Ichigo had shift from his position in front of Yammy with his sword held up, tip pointing down, to behind him with blood dripping from the edge.

"GWAAAAAAAH?!" Yammy cries in shock and pain as his blood began dropping in large ribbons from his newly formed stump.

'Idiot,' Ulquiorra thought, his face returning to its neutral expression, 'That's why I told you to develop your pesquisa. You shouldn't have charged in without testing his ability first. Still, I wouldn't have expected this.'

"How…how is Ichigo doing that?" Orihime asked, her voice quivering with worry and even a twinge of fear.

"I-I saw him," Mizurio stuttered, wide-eyed at what he saw. "Or at least, his energy trail. It was like there was a solid energy stream going right through his arm and stopping where Ichigo is now."

"So, what?" Keigo said still wondering what was going on, "He's moving so fast that we can see what he's doing until after he's done it."

"That's exactly what it means," Uryu said with a push on his glasses and a smirk as another cut appeared on the arrancar's other arm before Ichigo changed positions again, in a crouch. "With his spiritual pressure compressed more than ever, his bankai is making him move faster than ordinary senses can follow."

"Have you figured out his fighting weaknesses?" Chad asked, looking at Uryu.

"Yes," he said turning to everyone. "He's relying mainly on his strength only, since he can't figure out where Ichigo is attacking from. Also, he doesn't seem to be able to hold his temper in check when he's being overwhelmed."

"I've noticed something about his partner as well," Yang said, pointing at Ulquiorra. Everyone followed his finger and saw what he meant: whenever his eyes looked at a spot, a new injury would follow somewhere on Yammy. "His ability to sense spiritual pressure is much stronger; he is able to catch where Ichigo is going to hit. However, he hasn't made a move to help."

"Which means that we might have an advantage if we attack," Tatsuki said.

"Right," Uryu replied, "So, here's the plan…"

Meanwhile, Ulquiorra was making observations of his own. 'Hmm…he sliced through Yammy's _hierro_ and severed his arm. They said he achieved bankai only a short time ago, yet his spiritual pressure is surprisingly hard. Also, it seems that he can move faster than my pesquisa can follow effectively. Still, I find it hard to believe he's any threat to Lord Aizen.'

Yammy stood in front of what he hoped was the bug who was going to pay for this. He was outraged, logical thought gone leaving only thoughts of revenge and destruction to fester in his mind. Since he lost his arm to this insect, he had been cut in his left arm and shoulder, his right temple and had been stabbed in his right leg. His eyes were wide in rage as small streams of blood dripped down from his wounds to the ground.

"You little flea!!" he yelled as Ichigo placed the dull side of Zangetsu onto his shoulder.

"You can still stand?" he asked. "You're as tough as you look."

"Looks like you're having trouble," Ulquiorra commented casually, though there was a subtle undertone of contempt. "Shall I take over?"

"Shut up!!" Yammy hollered over his shoulder before using his remaining hand to grab his zanpakuto.

"What's this?" Ulquiorra asked tonelessly, though the mockery was there. "You're going to use your zanpakuto against him?"

"I said shut up!!"

(Bankai Speed)

The whole time Ichigo had been fighting, he had noticed some things. The first was that whenever he stopped moving, everything wet back to normal speed. The second was that the smaller arrancar, the one that was called Ulquiorra, had been following him with his eyes when he attacked. The final thing: the world was starting to get closer to normal speed the longer he went on fighting. He remembered what Cazador had said the first time he had taken over, about how the compressed spiritual pressure put stress on his body, but that had taken a lot longer than now.

'He's going for his zanpakuto,' he observed, 'I'd better stop him from using his other arm or things are just going to get harder,' before he sped to attack.

(Normal Speed)

For the first time since he went bankai, Ichigo disappeared before his attack hit. Yammy's remaining arm started to be cut when the black blade flickered into sight and Ichigo following him. Getting over his state of shock, Yammy let his sword drop back into its sheath and put on a large grin, before swinging a back fist to Ichigo, who pulled back and back-flipped away landing in a crouch, Zangetsu at the ready.

Ichigo was panting as he struggled to stand. Then, he felt a _crunch_ in his chest and began coughing up blood. 'What's happening to me? I was just fine a minute ago.'

**YOU IDIOT!!!! Ya knew it put stress on yer body and that yer spiritual pressure was compressed further than normal and ya still manage ta get like this!!!**

_Ichigo, your bankai in this form with you still in your human body is dangerous; you must release it before more damage is done to you because of it!_

'Right.' He tried to move away, but several more snaps and crunches were audible before the fresh wave of pain hit. Groaning, Ichigo found it hurt too much to even lift his arm; though he didn't need to since Yammy took the opportunity to kick him hard and send him back, rolling on the ground over and over until he came to a stop on his back, coughing as more blood started dribbling out of his mouth.

"Ichigo!" Chad yelled, calling up the black-and-red armor around his right arm, spirit energy charging to the two-prong ending on top of his shoulder, until he felt someone grab his wrist. Looking over, he saw Uryu, whose eyes said, "Don't move yet."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Not so tough now are you, huh you little worm?!" Yammy laughed as he brought his leg up to stomp on the defenseless soul reaper.

"Santen Kesshun (Three-God Shield)!" Orihime called out, summoning her triangular, gold energy shield in front of Ichigo. The foot collided with the shield, causing the energy to push against Yammy backward and stumble until he regained his balance.

"What is she?" Yammy said, frowning. At that, Keigo jumped over Ichigo and landed on his shoulders before performing his part of the plan.

"Heeeyyy, Mister Arrancar," he said, rapping his knuckles against the top of his head, "How'd you get so big? Do you work out? Can you bench a car?" All the time he was talking, he hit Yammy's head while pulling on his sideburns, making him even more made than before.

"Get off of my head, you little gnat!" he yelled as he tried to knock Keigo off. Keigo grabbed onto Yammy's ponytail and held on with his feet on his opponent's back. Ulquiorra shifted his gaze from the slightly amusing spectacle to Ichigo who was being carried away by Orihime, Mizurio and Yang while Uryu, Chad, Tatsuki and Yin were near the bush in case of something going wrong.

"You do realize that they're trying to distract you, right?" he said, redirecting his partner's attention onto the four trying to escape to a safe distance.

'Damn it,' Uryu thought, 'I thought he wouldn't do anything to help; we need to stall until Orihime can heal Ichigo.'

"Orihime, Mizurio," Yang said turning to look at them. "Do you think you can carry him the rest of the way?"

"Well, maybe," Mizurio replied, uncertainly. Orihime nodded in agreement. Looking over at Keigo, he called out, "Keigo! I need to swap out with you!" Keigo looked like he was about to argue, but the look Yang gave him made him change his mind. Nodding, he jumped over Yammy's head, flipping over and landing next to Orihime, grabbing the section Yang was holding.

"What's he doing?" Tatsuki asked, frowning at this. They had had Keigo be the distraction while Ichigo was being brought over for Orihime to heal him.

Walking up to stand between Yammy and the others, Yang turned back. "Listen," he called out "I have more experience than Keigo. I'll handle him while you all get Ichigo patched up." Hearing this, Yammy started laughing uproariously.

"That is rich!! You actually believe you can do me any harm; you don't even have any kind of weapon to use!!" Yang didn't say a word at this. He merely held up his right arm and pointed his index finger at Yammy. Without warning, he opened his hand to push palm outward. The next instant, Yammy was pushed back with the wind knocked out of him, his feet dragging into the ground and kicking up dust.

Everybody was shocked by this. He had told Orihime, Uryu and everyone else at the school that he could push his chi outward to attack, but to push back a giant like that with his chi alone; it actually made them think he could handle things while their plan went on.

"Ichigo," Uryu said, shaking him slightly. "I need you to drop your bankai; otherwise, Orihime won't be able to heal you without your bones getting broken over and over again." Hearing this, Ichigo closed his eyes and his zanpakuto returned to its cleaver shape and his coat disappeared. Without it however, they could see one of bones in his forearms was pushing against his skin and there were even one or two ribs were pressing against his shirt which was growing steadily redder with the seeping blood from the puncture wounds.

Taking a calming breath to steady her from the sight, Orihime put her hands out and concentrated. "Soten Kishun (Twin-God Reflection Shield)." At this, two of her hair pins glowed and separated to form a glowing oval around Ichigo. Slowly, his blood began to retract and the bulges in his arms sunk back in to make it normal again. All of this was watched by Ulquiorra.

'A healing technique? No. No. It's something else,' he thought, 'Time/space regression? Anyway, it's not healing. It's something I've never seen before.' The corners of his mouth twitched upward slightly, though not enough to be noticeable. "The human female is most unusual."

"Now Tatsuki!!" Yang called out, which caused the girl to speed right up to Yammy and slammed her fist into his ribs catching him off guard. He groaned as he felt a breaking in his ribs and stepped backwards, clutching his side. Looking up, he found Keigo had grabbed onto his face and was tugging on his sideburns.

"Let go, you little tick!" he yelled, face contorted with rage.

Keigo looked over his shoulder before answering with a big grin. "Okay, if that's what you want." With that, he backflipped… only for a bright blue arrow to stick itself into Yammy's right eye. Grabbing his face, he yelled in pain and glared at Uryu, who was standing there with his bow active.

"You're not hurting our friend while we're here," he declared, pushing his glasses up. "Your turn Chad!" At this, Yammy's remaining eyes widened and began looking around wildly; then he turned his head to see the large Mexican swinging is fist downward onto the arrancar's leg, energy thrusting hard onto the kneecap.

Pulling back his arm in an attempt to hit Chad, Yammy left his other side open as Yin came running out growling and jumped up to bite his leg. Turning back, Yammy backhanded the black creature, sending him rolling around before standing up, his left forepaw off of the ground. Turning back, Yammy brought his arm back to strike Chad with a palm strike when…

"Guardian's 4th strike: Thunder Dragon Dances Across The Sky!" A weaving lightning bolt shot downwards from the sky at a diagonal to connect with the stump of Yammy's arm, stopping the attack and giving the young fighters to get a fair distance away. Landing in between them and Yammy was a man in black with dragon wings coming out of his back.

"Who's that?" Chad in awe.

"Hello!" Urahara called out in a singing voice, as he and Yoruichi shunpoed into view, Benihime in its shikai form: a long, single-edged blade with a V-guard on a red wrapped handle which jerked away from his body and a tassel on the end of the handle and a small chain on the bottom tip of the V-guard. "Sorry we're late, everybody!" he added in a singsong voice.

"Mr. Urahara, Yoruichi," Orihime gasped as her Shun Shun Rikka finished healing Ichigo. The shield disappeared as they returned to her hairpins.

"To answer your question Chad," Yoruichi said, crossing her arms. "That is Shadow, Yang's master and a friend of ours."

"So," Shadow said as Yang walked up to his master, Yin limping alongside him. "How good are these guys?" Yang pulled back his right sleeve to reveal his black beads which went up to just below his elbow, placing his left index and middle fingers on two of the top beads. The beads began to glow and disappeared before the beads shifted around to fill the gap. Yin began to glow before he placed his paw on the ground and wagged his tail.

"Only the large one has fought," he answered, "Ichigo needed to use bankai just to do any significant damage while we gathered a plan to fight against him. The results are obvious, though there may be internal injuries he's dealing with." Shadow pulled his wings back into him as Yammy jumped towards them, fist pulled back to punch.

"DON'T YOU INGNORE ME, YOU SMUGE BASTARDS!!!" he hollered, throwing a punch. Uryu held up his bow, ready to fire.

"That wont be necessary, Uryu," Urahara said calmly, pulling out his fan. "These two are lightweights compared to Shadow and Yang." True to what he said, Shadow stopped Yammy's fist with only his open left hand.

Looking over at him, Shadow spoke. "Do you mind? We're in the middle of a conversation here," he waved his right arm to indicate Yang and Yin, "If you want to talk say 'Excuse me,' or wait until we're finished." Everyone hearing this, with the exception of Urahara and Yoruichi, felt their minds shut down from the sheer insanity of what was just said.

"Is…is he lecturing the guy about manners?" Mizurio stuttered, "While blocking his punch?"

"I know," Urahara said, waving his fan and chuckling, "Especially since he isn't a model of proper etiquette himself." Suddenly, Tatsuki flinched and grabbed her hand while Chad rubbed his wrist.

"Damn," Tatsuki said, "I guess in the adrenaline rush, I didn't notice I hurt my hand punching the guy. That skin is really tough." Urahara pulled some medicine from his belt and handed it to Yoruichi who applied it to the wrist, checking for broken bones.

"You're very lucky your hand hasn't been damaged," she said offhandedly before turning to Chad. "You should get your arm fixed up too, Chad."

"Maybe later," he said, grabbing his shoulder and rubbing. "Nothing banged up too bad, just sore."

"Then maybe you can tell us about why there are three other people here fighting those two," Urahara said with a stern face, putting away his fan. Ichigo stirred hearing this and opened his eyes to the relief of his friends.

"When this is over, I'll explain everything," he promised. Urahara looked at him and nodded slowly before turning back to the fight.

"Yammy, take care of these pieces of trash," Ulquiorra said for the first time in as many minutes. "Or maybe you need me to take over for you."

"SHUT UP, ULQUIORRA!!" Yammy threw over his shoulder, pulling his fist back unconsciously as he did so. "I can crush these cockroaches by myself with my power alone!"

"Does someone need to take a timeout?" Shadow asked crossing his arms, while Yang hung his head and shook it in muttering, "Don't make it worse, Master."

"What did you say to me?!" Yammy yelled before Shadow jumped up and gave him a right hook to the jaw, cracking the mask and knocking out a tooth. Hopping back, he shook his hand while exhaling hard.

"Wow, this guy is actually pretty tough," he said making a fist and rolling his wrist, making an audible popping noise; reaching up, he grabbed his sword hilt and pulled it out and held it parallel to the ground. "Looks like we need to get serious quickly, don't we Yang?"

The sword was a double-edged straight sword curving into a point, with a bronze guard shaped like a pentagon with the pointed end with the sides curved and the hilt wrapped in black leather and a flat pommel topping it. It looked like it made his arm twice as long.

"I agree, now let's show them what we are capable of," Yang said as he held his right arm straight out in front of him, his hand in a fist; he moved his left hand and placed the edge of it on the top of the bead wrap, palm open. "Ambush your prey, Yin!" As he spoke, he pulled his right arm back, turning it so it ended it up beside his head, palm turned outward and pushed his left hand forward, the palm running down the beads to stop palm facing outward, arm extended.

Yin's eyes glowed before he threw his head back and howled. Then, black energy surrounded his body and he began to change. His body grew taller and longer, growing to be a head shorter than Chad. His muzzle grew to a foot in length with 3-inch teeth coming from his mouth. His fur grew longer and matted with his paws leaving small craters in the ground from his large size, wielding 2-inch claws. His ears were larger and were longer with the ends twisted. His growls and snarls were similar to that of rolling thunder. Finally, the eyes were tinged with red as though seeking out the blood of his enemies.

Holding his left hand up open in front of him, Shadow moved him right arm to cross over the elbow joint of his left, the right elbow right behind the left hand. The flat of the blade of his sword was pointed towards the ground, reflecting the light of the afternoon sun; the pommel pointed to his right and the tip to the left. "Knowledge's light guides the way; wisdom's warmth nurtures the spirit." He drew his right arm back, pulling the sword with it. "Soulfire Phoenix!!!"

When his arm was fully extended, he held a 6-foot long pole arm with a metal weight on the end that was against his back. The pole itself was polished dark wood. At the end pointing away from him, a large blade with the edge turned down towards the ground. The shape of the blade was unique: the top half from the tip down looked like the top part of a Chinese broad sword, until the top of the blade curved upward and made a second straight edge before it dipped to the connect to the base; the bottom continued until it reached the middle of the second straight edge on the top, then it curved down to make a small straight edge and curved up to meet its parallel on top at the base.

"Now then…" he said, turning the blade to point towards his opponents and dropping his left hand to his side. "Your move."

* * *

_Seireitei, Squad 12, Captain's Study…_

"This…this is impossible," exclaimed Kurotsuchi, slamming his palms on the dashboard of his monitor. Since he had shifted his gaze to the Quincy monitoring system, he had gotten a number of surprises on the fight with the arrancar.

First, when Ichigo Kurosaki had gone into bankai, he had disappeared from the sensors from for different points during the fight. He had his cheap experiment of a lieutenant to have the monitoring people down in Research and Development enhance the imaging and record the fight for future analysis. Second, said people in R&D had bungled on how many different signatures there were; there were four not three, though the fourth one seemed to be split among two beings. When Kurosaki had been injured, the other four along with the girl, Quincy and giant had worked to get him away from the scene.

The third was when he found that the Quincy had directed the others to damage the arrancar as well as regain his own powers. Then the man who had taken on Zaraki a month ago and reappeared just last night and caused the shift in the little group headed by the so-called "prodigy captain" (he was the genius of the 13 Court Guard Squad) had joined the fight along with that hack Urahara and the feline wench Yoruichi (he still hated how he had to serve the hack and rot in the Maggot's Nest under the wench's charge).

But now, he had found out the greatest discovery of the mystery of both the split-being's and the mystery man's power.

"NEMU!!!" he shouted out. After a moment, she came in, bowing submissively. "Inform the Head-Captain that I've found our man…" he smiled evilly as he turned back to the screens, "…as well as a being with the spiritual power of a Bount! And be quick about it!!" With that and a bow on her part, his lieutenant left in a fast pace to follow her orders. 'Now,' Mayuri thought as he chuckled darkly, 'let's see what our friend can do with the power of the Sokyoku.'

* * *

_**Next Time on Shadows Are Rising:**_

"We're not Soul Reapers; we're stranger."

"I can't believe this."

"I think it might be better to wait before you tell your soul reaper friends about your other power."

"Be prepared; you leave for the Living World tonight!"

* * *

_**For those who are confused about Soulfire Phoenix's sealed form, look up 'Hans swords' and pick "Chinese Hans Swords by Valiant Armory" at .. Also, to Daricio, I missed you last chapter and hope you'll give me something to build on.**_

**-- Twin Shadows**


	7. Chapter 6: Dark Fang, Phoenix Flight

_**To the reviewers:**_

_**Okami Princess: Thanks for clearing up the mystery word last chapter and glad you're enjoying the story. Also, if you want to put your vote for IchiRuki for a pairing in this story, you'll have to place the vote into the poll personally.**_

_**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to Bleach in any way, shape, or form. I do claim ownership to my OCs, however, so if anyone needs to borrow them for one of their stories, just send a review requesting the use, along with a basic idea of the story you're writing and the promise they won't be used as villains. I wouldn't mind if they were either made into anti-heroes or anti-villains, just no making them classic villains.**_

**-- TwinShadows**

**Shadows Are Rising**

**Chapter 6: Dark Fang, Phoenix Flight**

_Arrancar Crash Site…_

Chad helped Ichigo into a sitting position, the latter wincing as he moved since his body was still feeling the pain from his bankai. Looking out to the fight before him, he saw two things that really freaked him out: Yang standing next to a monster dog nearly as big as Chad and Shadow with a pole weapon with a crazily-shaped blade on the end, both of them standing before a bloody and blinded by rage arrancar.

"Whoa," he said. "What the hell are those?"

"Those are what stand between us and him," Uryu said calmly, turning to look at Ichigo. "You looked like hell when they took over, Ichigo; although," he added with a smirk, "Your looks haven't improved much even with Orihime's healing."

Before Ichigo could retort past a harsh glare, Urahara stepped in. "As rousing as this conversation is, you all should pay attention to these two. You just might learn something." As they turned to look, he thought, 'So _that's_ what he was doing in the Soul Society; Yoruichi told me that Soifon had found another intruder after Ichigo and his friends left the Soul Society after Aizen's defect to Hueco Mundo. I guess after Ukitake and Kyoraku broke it, he put it back together. Now, let's see how well he can use its power in a fight.'

Moving his left hand up, Shadow took off his arrowhead pendent, holding it by the stone and looked over his shoulder. "Hey, Kisuke," he said, "Hold this for me, will ya? And make sure it doesn't get hurt!" He turned and threw it to Urahara who caught it in his left hand before he put it in his pocket.

"Why'd he do that?" Mizurio asked, confused about the action. "What's so big about that necklace that he has to take it off when he's about to fight somebody?"

"It holds great sentimental value to him," Yoruichi replied, finishing up Tatsuki's wrist. "So naturally, he doesn't wear it to battle for fear of it being damaged."

"WHOA!!" Keigo said, forgetting the person he was insulting was right in front of him. "All that fuss over something like jewelry?! What a wimp!" Angry, Tatsuki slugged him with her good arm.

"DON'T YOU HAVE AN EMPATHETIC BONE IN YOUR BODY, KEIGO?!?!" she yelled, shifting to stomping on his back. "It's special to him, so keep your mouth shut, you dumbass!"

"O-okay..." he whimpered from the ground.

"Now then," Shadow interrupted, bringing the attention back to the fight. He swung the blade in front of his body, letting the other end connect with his left palm before he shifted into a sparring stance, chopping the blade down to hold the weapon parallel to the ground, the point of the blade pointed at Yammy. "I said that it was your move."

'Strange,' Ulquiorra thought. 'Neither of these two have any significant spiritual pressure above that of garbage, and yet...' his gaze shifted lazily to Yang, '...he was able to push Yammy back with only his spiritual power alone...' then he shifted to look at Shadow, '...and he was strong enough to stop Yammy's attack with his bare hand and hurt him with a hit to the jaw. This may cause a problem.'

"Yammy, perhaps I should take over this fight," he said coolly. "You may be in over your head with these two."

"HA! These two and their little mongrel are nothing but ants ready for the squishing," Yammy said arrogantly, wiping the blood from his mouth with his remaining arm. "That freak in the mask just got in a lucky hit."

"I assure you, Yammy," Yang said as he shifted into a sparring position with his right side leading. "There will be many more 'lucky hits' on you during this fight." Yin barked at the arrancar and snapped his jaws threateningly.

"Who said you could call me by my name, you little worm?" he replied, swinging his fist back. At this, Yin rushed him and jumped up to bite into Yammy's right stump, knocking him back and tearing off a chunk of his muscle tissue. Yin then proceeded to start eating it, blood dripping from both Yammy's wound and Yin's jaws as he swallowed the muscle tissue.

"He-he ate the guy's body," Orihime said timidly, hands on her mouth in fear. Uryu put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. She looked up at him. "Uryu..."

"I don't think we need to worry about Yin attacking us, Orihime," he said smiling at her. "He only did that because he saw Yang and Shadow were in danger; you don't have to worry." She smiled at this and turned back to look at the two fighting for them. Someone tapped his other shoulder; turning around, he saw it was Tatsuki.

"I'm letting you get away with this because you're actually trying to comfort her, instead of acting like Chizuru or Keigo and going after her body," she whispered into his ear. "But, if I find you decide to do that, well let's just say I'll treat ya like both of them combined. Do we understand each other?" Gulping, Uryu nodded as his shaking hand straightened his glasses. She smiled at this and patted his cheek with a, "Good boy," before turning back to look at Shadow, Yang and Yin.

"AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!" Yammy yelled, grabbing his side in pain. "You soul reaper wannabes are going to suffer for this!!" His felt a cutting into his back and turned to see Shadow with Soulfire Phoenix dripping with the blood that had come from the wound it had created.

"We're not Soul Reapers; we're stranger," he said as he twirled to the left and struck Yammy in the ribs with the weight on the other end. Groaning, Yammy turned to growl before he felt several strikes in his back and behind the knees. Dropping to his knees, he saw Shadow disappear and he turned to see Shadow reappear as Yang hopped back from his position next to Yammy.

"Even with the _hierro_, you still possess the pressure points that are found in the human body," Yang said calmly while he flexed his fingers. "And an experienced acupuncturist can find and hit these points; all I need is a clear shot at the target area to make the connection and I can render you defenseless for a short time."

"I believe that you said that they only got lucky with their attacks Yammy," Ulquiorra said. "Does this mean that they are exceptionally lucky or that you are just that unlucky?"

"WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP, ULQUIORRA?!?!" Yammy yelled, reaching the point of no return. "I'LL CRUSH THESE BUGS AND PROVE THAT THEY ARE NOTHING!!!!"

"Then may I make a suggestion?" Ulquiorra asked turning his head to look at the others. "Perhaps, you should focus on the people they are keeping from you instead of targeting them directly." At this, Yammy began to grin widely and chuckle before he erupted in full-blown laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHA!!! ULQUIORRA, YOU AND I ARE FINALLY IN AGREEMENT ON THIS!!" he looked over at Urahara and the others on the sidelines, his face looking like it would break from his evil grin. "I'm gonna enjoy this."

"Eyes in front jerk!" Shadow called out. With his left hand, he held his thumb, index and middle fingers extended as he circled out in front of him counterclockwise before his hand met his left shoulder. "Guardian's 4th strike: Thunder Dragon Dances across the Sky!" His fingers glowed with white-hot energy as he thrust his fingers forward. The energy forward, making jagged movements as it closed in on Yammy. The arrancar saw this and shifted his weight around to put his hollow hole in the path of the kido shot. It singed the edges of the circular hole, but the full shot went right through it; coming out the back of the white jacket he wore and splitting the tree right behind him, the wood catching on fire.

'It seems Yammy _is_ capable of thinking beyond simply crushing his opponents on occasion,' Ulquiorra thought as his aforementioned partner landed heavily on the ground and kicking up dust.

"Now..." he whispered before shouting, "...YOU'RE DEAD!!!" As he kept his mouth open, a sphere of dark red energy gathered in front of it.

'A _cero_!' Yoruichi thought before she shouted, "Everyone! Get out of the way!!" But too late, the _cero_ shot from his mouth towards them at breakneck speed.

"Yin!! Intercept!!" Yang yelled, making his partner rush to come between the _cero_ and the others. He managed to skid into the gap as it was closing in.

'It doesn't matter what he does, my _cero_ will decimate anyone or anything in its path,' Yammy thought smugly. Everyone watched on in apprehension as the red beam closed in on the monstrously sized dog... before said dog opened his mouth and started to swallow the _cero_.

"What's happening?" Chad asked stunned at what was happening; though it seemed that he had become the voice of the mostly stunned group. Only Urahara, who was waving his fan again, and Yoruichi, who was breathing a deep sigh of relief, were unsurprised by these new developments.

Yin then began to inhale, drawing in more of the _cero_ into his body. After ten seconds, Yammy had been completely deprived of his attack and Yin was licking his lips at his finished his 'meal'.

"What the hell did you do, you bastard?" Yammy yelled in both anger and shock. All around the clearing, most everyone was think along the same lines, though they weren't as uncouth as Yammy's.

"Yin is a Shadow being," Yang said as he held up his right arm to show his beads. "They are born in the Shadow World before they are sent to our world to find a human partner and work with him or her," as he spoke, _reishi_ began to separate two of the top beads and form new beads from both of the separated beads. "For them to use their powers here however they need to absorb energy; their favorite type is negative energy, like that of a hollow's _cero_." As he finished, seven new beads had formed and the whole string shifted to comfortably accommodate the new addition. "In other words, when you attacked just now, you plan backfired on two counts."

"Two counts?" Yammy said confused.

"Yes, two: the first was giving my brother here," he nodded towards Yin, "the extra power for this fight; but that's not the worst. That's the second reason, which is..."

"You made me angry by attacking them to get to us," Shadow growled, his spiritual pressure rising. He held out Soulfire Phoenix at a diagonal with the blade pointing up and to the right. His left hand lay on the weight of the weapon and dragged it up towards the blade. As he did so, fire began to follow from the bottom up. As his hand reached the base of the blade, he let the fire continue on to reach the blade tip, the flames licking his fingers but not seeming to burn them. He grabbed underneath his right hand with his left before he started to spin the pole around, dragging the fire into a circle along with it.

"Do you suppose Shadow," Urahara said stepping forward, holding Benihime at the ready, "that I can take a swing at this guy? After all, I think it's fair since he attacked my friend, Yoruichi."

Shadow didn't even look at him to reply. "Go right ahead; he's a big guy, plenty of him to get back at." Urahara smiled as he held his zanpakuto next to his left shoulder. Shadow stopped spinning his blade to hold it in his right hand as he pulled his whole arm back, calling the fire to wrap around the blade.

"BLAZING PHOENIX!!" he cried as he thrust the pole forward, pushing the fire outward before it took the form of a flaming bird, barreling towards Yammy.

"Scream, Benihime!" Urahara called as he swung his sword, creating a blood-red arc to spring from the blade which mixed with the phoenix to create an even greater attack.

Suddenly, Ulquiorra flashed in front of Yammy, swinging his right arm against the combo. He broke it with his hand, though his skin was decidedly burned from both attacks; all without turning an eyelash. This caused Kisuke to look shocked and Shadow to put his weapon under his arm, blade in front, and his left hand up to his chest vertically, prepared for another attack.

"Ul-Ulquiorra..." Yammy stuttered while the corners of his mouth turned up, finding it hard to believe that his stoic partner would actually help him, especially since he always thought Ulquiorra looked down on him. Turning his waist, Ulquiorra stabbed Yammy in his stomach with his bare hand. Everyone stared in astonishment at the fact that he had actually turned on his own fellow.

Dropping to one knee, Yammy clutched his stomach as he glared at Ulquiorra. "Wh...What did you...do that for?"

"Fool," he replied coolly as he waved off the blood from his hand. "Get ahold of yourself, Yammy. That's Kisuke Urahara in front of you and Yoruichi Shihoin with the other pieces of garbage. You can't possibly defeat them at your current level. Besides..." he said walking to Yammy's other side, "...we need to tell Lord Aizen about these two new developments." Reaching out the hand that wasn't in his pocket and touched the space in front of him. Instantly, it opened like the jaws of a beast to a swirling black pit. "We're going."

"Running away?" Yoruichi asked, as Chad helped Ichigo to his feet and everyone moved forward to close in just in case it was a trick.

"Watch what you say," he replied. "You know very well what would happen if you tried to fight me while protecting those pieces of garbage."

"Yeah, we do," Shadow said, shifting his left hand back onto the shaft of the weapon. "You'd be in big trouble." Ulquiorra was unimpressed by this show of force as he and Yammy stepped through the portal.

"We've achieved our immediate objective," he continued, looking at Ichigo in contempt. "I'll tell Lord Aizen that the so-called Soul Reaper he has his eye on is trash. Not even worth killing." With that, the portal closed, leaving a group of unique people still grasping at what they had just heard.

* * *

_Seireitei, Squad 12, Kurotsuchi's lab..._

"Well," Captain Kurotsuchi said, leaning back into his chair, "I must say, that was an interesting show; although it would have been much better if those two had shown more of their abilities." he added, actually sounding disappointed as he stroked the beard-like appendage that was attached to his face. At that moment, a special messenger appeared behind the chair.

Kneeling, he began to give Kurotsuchi the message. "Captain Kurotsuchi," he said, "The Head-Captain has gathered the remaining captains as well as Captain Hitsugya's team in the meeting room of Squad 1. They are waiting for you to give your report, sir."

"Very well," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Tell them that I'll be there with the new information regarding my findings; I just need to gather it into a presentable manner, so about five to ten minutes." Bowing his head, the messenger used shunpo to deliver the counter message. Getting up, Kurotsuchi grabbed the video disks from his computer and moved to get the rest of the data from the Research and Development so that everyone could see just how much more interesting things have gotten.

'Not to mention,' he thought with a wicked grin, 'Maybe I'll be able to properly study these two for research in case there are more of them. What fun!' he chuckled at this.

* * *

_Eastern Karakura, crash site..._

"Well," Shadow said, shouldering his weapon, "That was a little anti-climactic in my opinion." Turning around, he walked over to the group with Yang, Urahara, and Yin walking beside him, the latter transforming back into his original form. When they stood in front of everyone, Shadow looked at everyone and said, "So, I'm Shadow; nice to meet all of ya."

The teenage all looked at him nervously before Ichigo stood up and started to walk up to him unsteadily. "Sorry, man. We didn't exactly expect you to show up, much less start throwing fire at them."

"Excuse me, Ichigo," Uryu said stepping forward. "But before we start acting like we are all friends here, I for one would feel more comfortable if he sealed up his zanpakuto first." At this, Shadow looked over his left shoulder, then his right, and then he looked down at his boots and turning around in a full circle before doing the same thing in reverse. Finally he looked back at Uryu and said, "What zanpakuto?"

"The one on your shoulder." He answered tartly, pushing up his glasses.

"Oh, he's not a zanpakuto, this is Soulfire Phoenix." But he swung it around and brought his left hand up and thrust the polearm, blade first, behind the hand and turned it back into its jian-shaped sealed form. Turning the blade tip downward, he swung it around the presented edge of the extended hand, showing the flame imprint on flat of the blade right above the guard before twirling it in between his fingers and putting it back in the sheath on his back.

"SUUUPPPPPEERRR CCCOOOLLLLLLLLLL!!!!" Keigo yelled, jumping up and saluted Shadow with tears streaming down his cheeks. "I'm Keigo Asano age 15, and I'm honored to see such an amazing display of fiery power! Please teach me how to be as mighty as you!!"

Shadow just stood there staring at him before looking at Yang. "Now I get why you lost your cool when ya told me about him; he's a lot like Sun Wukong in my opinion." Hearing this, Keigo began jumping up and down before leaping up to swing from a nearby branch.

"I'm like Sun Wukong, you say? With such a name, he must have been a mighty--"

"He was more commonly known to the Western world as the 'Monkey King'," Shadow added, causing Keigo to lose his focus and fall from the tree onto his back, twitching slightly. "And it would seem your powers reflect that lineage," he added before moving over, grabbing Keigo's hand and pulling him upright, slapping him on the shoulder. "With a little work, you could be the next Monkey King, monkey boy."

At this, the others started to laugh. Orihime and Mizurio were covering their mouths to stifle their laughs, Chad just had a big smile on his face, (which was as close to laughing out loud) Uryu pushed up his glasses with a smirk, and Tatsuki and Ichigo were laughing out loud; all while Urahara was waving his fan smiling, Yoruichi smirking with her arms crossed and Yang and Yin looking at each other before Yang hung his head and sighed.

"Well," Mizurio gasped, "At least it explains why he, hehehe, had that tail when I saw his spirit image." At this, Orihime started giggling through her fingers and Tatsuki clutched her sides. Hearing this, Keigo started bawling "WHY MIZURIO?!?! WWWHHHHYYYYY?!?!?!"

"Wait," Shadow said turning to look at Mizurio, "What do you mean, 'spirit image'?"

"Well," he gasped, managing to get his breathing under control enough to talk, "I can see more than simply hollows and soul reapers; I can actually see the source of their spirit powers and, up close, I can sort of see what the power takes form of."

"No kidding. That could come in handy," Urahara said, drawing everyone's attention to him. "With it, we could actually get a jump on enemies."

"Ichigo," Tatsuki said pointing, "Who's the goofy guy and the woman with crazy hair?"

"Oh, the guy with the bucket hat is Kisuke Urahara, though I just call him Mr. Hat-And-Clogs," he said pointing to Urahara, who did a bow of his head and a wave of his fan, before pointing to Yoruichi. "And his friend is Yoruichi Shihoin; I told you guys about them."

"You didn't mention how hot she was," Keigo said grinning widely. Now that he had a chance to focus on something other than fighting giant monsters and talking to weird masked men, he was able to observe the newcomers, or more specifically check out Yoruichi.

"Forget it kid," Shadow said crossing his arms and Yoruichi could practically feel the smirk on his face beneath the mask. "She's out of league; besides, she's older than your great-grandma." Hearing this, Yoruichi pouted at him.

"Ahh come on Shadow, women are sensitive about their ages," she said before turning to smirk at Keigo, "But he's right; I'm way out of your league, kid." Looking back she grinned wickedly, "Besides, you and Yang are both way older than me so you don't get the right to talk."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Miss Shihoin," Mizurio said with a smile, obviously trying his hand at flirting with her.

"Right; he prefers older women," Ichigo said moving his hand to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment. "Mizurio, don't you already have a girlfriend? Why do you feel the need to flirt if you're supposed to be committed to a relationship? "

"Hey, come on Ichigo; I'm just trying to be nice," He countered, sounding suspiciously like a whine.

"Hate to break up the introduction fest here," Shadow said waving his hand to get their attention, "But I'd like to remind Mad-hatter here that I still need my pendent back since the fight is over." Nodding, Urahara dug out the necklace and handed it to Shadow who placed it back around his neck before turning to Tatsuki. "So, what can you do?"

Tatsuki just sped back to the edge of the crater and back in the blink of an eye before slamming her fist into the ground and made a small crater of her own before looking at him and shrugging.

"Nice," he commented. "Anything else I should be aware of, though?"

"She can breathe fire," Chad put in.

Looking her over, Shadow was silent before putting in his opinion. "Well, from those three, I'd have to guess you have some latent dragon's blood going in your veins. Congratulations!"

"Wait, Tatsuki can't be a dragon," Orihime protested. "She would have scales, horns, wings, a tail and she'd get angry at everything."

"That last part isn't that far off," Keigo whispered to Mizurio before Tatsuki turned to glare harshly at him causing him to be quiet.

"Well, dragons did have the ability to shape-shift," Yang said. "Sometimes, they would transform into humans and end up settling down and having a family with another human."

"Besides," Shadow added, "That idea that dragon-human hybrids actually having draconic features is a myth designed by the nerds who made that 'Dungeons & Dragons' game."

**I don't know why ya ain't gettin' wit' her, partner. Now that ya know she can take it...**

'You, shut up. I don't think of her like that.' Then, he turned to Shadow and said, "Hey, there's a part of the book I didn't get."

"Which was?" he asked as Ichigo brought out the book and flipped to the page he had dog-eared and showed to him.

"What would have happened if this happened?" he asked, pointing at the part that warned about the flying bugs when doing the energy transference. Taking the book, Shadow read the section before he looked up.

"Beats me; I just put it in there when I saw the movie 'The Fly'," he replied, watching as Ichigo's mouth dropped open in astonishment. "What? The guy got his DNA mixed with a fly and turned into a monster; I didn't want to take the chance of it happening with the process or who knows what could happen?!" he added with a wide-spreading of his arms. Seeing this mood, not getting better for him, he changed tactics. "So, I think it's a pretty safe bet that, properly trained, Tatsuki could very well end up taking your nickname as 'Flash Master', huh Yoruichi?"

"Yeah, I don't think so," she said smiling, "at least until she can out speed me without flash step."

"Hey," he shrugged, "Anything's possible." Then turning back, he flipped through the pages of the book he was still holding, he pointed at the section he was looking for: the part where it explained how to do his alternate form of kido. "Now then, let's get you up to speed on this, huh kid?"

* * *

_Seireitei, Squad 1, Captain's Meeting Quarters..._

Looking around at everyone in attendance, Rukia was nervous since she saw that not only were the captains and lieutenants present, but also were the people that had apparently been selected to participate in joining Captains Hitsugaya and Soifon in going to Karakura town. Looking around at her others, she took note of who it was she would be working with, since they had been grouped together.

There was Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa, the 3rd and 5th seats of Squad 11 respectively. Ikkaku was a bald-headed man with red marks on the outer edges of his eyes, wore his sandals barefoot and held his zanpakuto in its sheath on his shoulder rather than in his sash like normal soul reapers did. Like the stereotypical Squad 11 member, he enjoyed fighting and like his captain, he especially enjoyed it when he fought against a strong opponent who could make him fight to his fullest.

Yumichika was a man with shoulder-length, shiny, black hair and feather-like extensions on the right side of his face, red on the inside of his eyebrow and yellow on the farther edge of his eyelashes, giving him a womanly appearance. Though he seemed like he didn't belong in Squad 11, he was a narcissist who judged everyone and everything based on whether he thought they were beautiful or ugly and he was very vain; though he was at times caring and helpful to others and extremely loyal to his friend, Ikkaku. His shihakusho was altered slightly by having an orange color and an orange armband on his right forearm.

On Yumichika's other side was Captain Soifon of Squad 2. She was slightly taller than Rukia, with her black hair tied back into two braids ending with two rings at the ends with her bangs hanging in front of her forehead. She wore the standard uniform for the commander of the Punishment Force, a shihakusho without any covering on the shoulders or back, under her captain's haori, long coverings on her forearms which were crossed in front of her chest and Chinese shoes instead of sandals on her feet. Her zanpakuto was hanging laterally from her back with the hilt pointed to her right. From the way she held herself, it was clear that you'd have to be a fool, or in the case of her lieutenant, a "complete oaf", to try and mess with her, since she was a very proud person and a master at hand-to-hand combat; her biggest weakness however, was her obvious, fangirlish, and (to put it mildly) slightly obsessive hero worship/girl crush of Yoruichi Shihoin, her mentor and former superior.

Turning to look to her other side, the single bang of her raven hair swaying slightly, Rukia's violet eyes fell on the other captain who was going with them to the Human World: Captain Toshiro Hitsugya from Squad 10, the youngest captain of the 13 Court Guard Squad and one of the shortest Soul Reapers, a fact he was especially annoyed by whenever someone brought it up. His snow-white hair and teal eyes made him stand out even further in addition to his height and his large-for-his-size zanpakuto which was hung across his back, the 4-point-star guard of the hilt shown from behind his shoulder. Despite his age, he was praised for being a genius and that he and his lieutenant was the one who found out that Aizen was a traitor before everyone else did.

Next to him was his lieutenant, Rangiku Matsumoto. She had long, strawberry-colored hair and breasts that were larger than Orihime's, which she had the cleavage exposed with her exceptionally loose shihakusho, along with Orihime's chipper attitude when off duty as well as her strange taste in food. She was known to be both a lazy drunk who avoided her paperwork with massive creativity (to the constant irking of her captain) and a loyal friend and strong fighter on the battlefield. Now though, her face showed the common feeling that they were all experiencing: anxiety over what Captain Kurotsuchi had ready to present to them.

Ending the row was Rukia's childhood friend and the lieutenant of her older brother's squad, Renji Abarai. To a lot of people, Rukia included, he was in many respects a parallel to Ichigo. He had long red hair, which was either in a spiky ponytail or a braid; black jagged tribal tattoos that started on his forehead and made it look like he had the wackiest eyebrows, which he happened to cover with a white bandana tied to the side or expensive sunglasses (the latter becoming less and less frequent since Ichigo came and started breaking them during their fights), ever that went down to cover most of his body and a short temper that made him yell at anyone who irritated him (namely Ichigo and Rukia), though he always kept in check around his captain. He was staunchly loyal and right now, like he'd been for the past few hours, he was showing his worry for his friend as the doors opened and Captain Kurotsuchi and Nemu came in, the latter carrying a display monitor and several information cartridges, walked to the center of the room and, while Nemu started to assemble everything together, her captain/father/creator faced the other occupants in front of him.

"Good afternoon, everyone," he began, being deceptively polite to everyone before him, "I do hope you're all doing well."

"Kurotsuchi," Yamamoto said warningly, "You had best begin discussing your findings before I decide you are merely making a mockery of us all. After your withholding information during the Bount incident, that would be most unwise to do."

"Very well," he replied grudgingly, still angry with the reminder; after all, he had been manipulated by them into getting the Quincy to bring Jin Kariya and the Bounts to the Soul Society in the first place. Deciding on his most favored stress-relieving technique, he started shouting to his lieutenant. "Nemu! Are you not done setting up the equipment yet?!"

Standing upright, she turned to look at her audience. "The system is prepped and ready to show the images you wanted, Captain." With that, she moved to the side as Mayuri pulled out a remote control and pointed it at the display monitor and pressed one of the buttons. A humming sound resonated as the monitor showed the area where the whole incident took place.

"As I'm sure you are all aware," he began, "Aizen has made his first move since leaving the Soul Society last month by sending out two complete arrancar to Karakura town in the Human World." Clicking a button, the monitor showed a slide showing two lights, indicating the arrancar as well as different lights signifying humans; that is until one of the arrancar lights started to draw in the other lights around it. "As you can see, they are absorbing the souls around them and..." he paused to widen the screen to show a larger range, "It absorbed the souls of nearly everyone within a 10-mile radius of it." Taking a minute to let everyone take it all in, he turned to look at Yamamoto who nodded for him to continue.

"Shortly afterward, there was a bit of good news and a bit of bad news," he continued, shifting to a new slide, this time showing a side view of the scene with Ichigo and his friends' energy signatures coming up into the bushes. "The good news, as you can all plainly see, is that the Substitute Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki is perfectly healthy and alive." Hearing this, everyone who knew Ichigo personally on some level relaxed somewhat.

"How did you get the viewing from the side, Mayuri?" asked Shunsui Kyoraku, the captain of Squad 8. Most of the time, Kyoraku was seen as lazy and in love with sake as Matsumoto; however, underneath the aloof exterior lay the mind of an insightful individual who could see the truth in many things others would overlook.

Gritting his teeth, Mayuri was quick to think of a cover. "You know, Kyoraku, I am capable of hacking the human's satellite hovering above the atmosphere and comprise a 3-dimensional visual of the situation. Now, would you allow me to continue or would you prefer to leave and get drunk and pass out until tomorrow morning?"

Pushing up the wide-brim straw hat over his long, wavy, dark brown hair, Kyoraku smiled calmly and waving his hand in a defensive manner. "Now, now, no need to become upset, Mayuri; I was just making a statement, you can go on with the presentation." Scoffing, Kurotsuchi turned back to the others.

"As I was saying, the bad news for this situation is as follows." Pulling out a laser pointer, he drew everyone's attention to the unfamiliar energy signatures. "First of all, there weren't three unknown signatures, but four; at first, I was confused since this fourth energy seemed to be shared amongst two different entities."

"What did you conclude, Captain?" Hitsugaya asked cocking an eyebrow. This caused Kurotsuchi's mouth to curve into a wicked grin.

"I believe that this fourth one may be a Bount that we missed." At this, everyone froze. Having just dealt with Kariya and the other Bounts who had attacked the Seireitei so soon, it was only natural to be shocked that they may have to deal another Kariya was terrifying, especially with Aizen's movement happening right alongside it. Finally, Squad 13 Captain Jushiro Ukitake, a kindhearted man with tuberculosis and his hair turned white because of said sickness, was the one who spoke: "I can't believe it."

"I assure you," Kurotsuchi said, pushing another button, "That's not the end of the bad news."

* * *

_Karakura, Urahara Shop, Underground Training Area... _

"Alright," Shadow called to Ichigo, "Do 5 more for each of them on both arms and then we'll call it a day."

Nodding, Ichigo turned back and started his motions again. It had been about 10 minutes since they had left the battle site and Shadow had explained what he wanted Ichigo to learn for the new kido style. Thinking back, Ichigo focused on what his new teacher had told him.

_/5 minutes ago.../_

_"Now pay attention kid," Shadow said calmly, "To use this kido, you must first learn the moves first. To start you off, we'll work with two low-level spells and one mid-level spell from each of the two types, attack and defense. Once you have the steps down, we'll work on applying the focusing of your spirit energy to the movements to execute the spell itself."_

_/Return to Present/_

Completing the form for, as Shadow called it, Guardian's 4th Strike and moving onto the Scholar's 4th Wisdom which Shadow had called the "Python Embracing the Magpie", Ichigo looked over to where Shadow was talking to the others, presumably about what they were going to do about training Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizurio on how to use their new abilities.

_Ichigo, if you wish to be able to use this new kido, you must retain your focus; if this were a battle and you do this while trying to perform this spell, then it would fail to be generated or backfire upon you or your friends._

**Yeah, Ichigo. So get yer head out o' ya butt and concentrate so we can crush those arrancar bastards next time we fight 'em!**

'Do you think about anything other than battling enemies and winning fights?'

**Nope. Well, unless ya count thinking of ways to get you hooked up with a babe... or two or three.**

'I'm going back to learning the forms,' he thought with a slight reddening in his cheeks, 'and I don't want to hear another word out of you, Cazador, unless you see I need to improve my form.' With that, he shut out the voices and continued with his training. If he'd only stayed connected for a few seconds longer, he would have heard the final remarks between his two blades; or more accurately, Cazador's ravings and Zangetsu's quiet comment.

**"How dense is he? How does he not see the number of girls who he has a chance with, especially that Orihime chick? GOD!! I hate living in this IDIOT!!"**

Zangetsu only shrugged. _"He isn't one who notices romance easily. Remember, his contact with the opposite sex is limited and he lost the only one who could have given him the necessary advice on the subject without him dismissing it as perversion or idiotic, so he isn't as well adjusted to it as he is in battle." _

"From the sound of things, Shadow," Urahara said slowly, "I think we have to figure out how best to prepare these three," he waved his hand at Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizurio, "to use their abilities to their fullest extent."

"Actually Kisuke," Shadow holding up his hand. "I sort of put Yang in charge of training these kids. If you want, you could supervise; you just won't be doing any direct training with them," he added with a shrug.

"Hey, don't we get a say in who trains us?" Tatsuki interrupted, crossing her arms with a frown on her face. "I mean, no offense, Yang, we're all grateful to you for helping us get our powers in the first place," she added hurriedly, waving her hands in a nonaggressive manner.

Yang just smiled calmly. "No offense taken, Tatsuki."

"But we should be trained by someone who we know will help us reach our full potential; and since Ichigo needs his kido training, you'll need to work with him personally," she pointed out while pointing to Shadow.

"I don't really like focusing on one student while training a group; makes me feel like I'm picking favorites," he replied dismissively.

"Well, what if we learned with all of them?" Orihime suggested with her finger pushing up her bottom lip in a thoughtful position.

"That might work," Yoruichi put in. "With all of us teaching them, they'd be able to learn about their powers; and with Aizen's forces on the move already, we can't afford to waste time." Everyone all nodded in agreement as Ichigo came up, slightly sweating from exertion.

"So, how do I use those moves for kido?" he asked, with a slight pant.

"Well, how'd ya figure out how to use Kukaku's Flower-Crane Cannon to get into the Seireitei?" Shadow asked.

"Well, Ganju told me his method of using kido so I just did like he said; see a hole in my mind and jump through it."

"If I recall correctly," Yoruichi interrupted with a big grin, "You overshot the amount of spirit energy when you did it and then you lost your concentration and blew yourself up right after you got it down."

"Thanks, Yoruichi," he muttered sarcastically, "Because he really needed to know that part."

"Well, using kido is sorta the same mental imagining," Shadow stepped in, "Only instead of you jumping through the hole, you're gonna put the spirit energy around you into the hole while you stay and monitor the amount put in."

"How does that work?" he asked. "And while we're talking about controlling my spirit energy, using my bankai while I'm in my body is dangerous with all that compressed energy, so how do I bump up the percentage of power I'm aloud to use?"

Crossing his arms, Shadow walked to stand in front of Ichigo and looked at him right (he assumed) in the eye. "Dam."

Blinking, he looked over at the others, who looked at him confusedly, before turning back to him. "What did I say?"

"No, no, no. You misunderstand," Shadow replied. "I mean that, your power is like a reservoir of water, the mark is a dam containing it, and the energy amount at your disposal is like the drain that regulates the water to pass through to the other side. Now, to use the spirit energy you have and divide it so you'll have the right amount for each individual spell and have energy to spare, you have to think of a channel that splits your flow and shifts the energy in different directions for different purposes. You get all that?"

"I do, but that doesn't answer my second question." Ichigo said. At this, Shadow moved past everyone to stand about 3 yards away before turning back.

"I suggest you all hold onto something for support," he called out, cupping his hand to the side of his mouth. At this, Yang moved to stand in front of the three new teen fighters while everyone else just stared. Breathing deeply, Shadow crossed his arms in front of his chest, fingers drawn into claws. "Release the containment: 10%!" With that, he threw his arms downward to his sides.

The next thing that everyone felt was the crushing force of an enormous spiritual pressure. The very air around them had instantly become thin, making it difficult to breathe; Mizurio and Orihime looked like they were close to passing out. Even Chad had struggled to stay standing, sweat dripping from his jaw-line. The only ones who looked unaffected were Urahara, Yoruichi, and Yin and Yang and the formers flinched slightly. As fast as the spiritual pressure had hit it had dissipated, leaving Shadow panting before them for a few seconds before he took a deep breath and returned to the group.

"So, that's how you do that," he said smoothly, like he'd just shown them the secret behind a card trick instead of crushing them beneath a powerful pressure.

"Say, Ichigo," Mizurio said, heaving up Zangetsu to stand on its tip before falling back into a sitting position. "How exactly are ya going to hide this? If it stays like this, people are gonna freak out and call the cops." They had admittedly been lucky to avoid any suspicion since it took about five minutes after they left before people started to call the paramedics and police. Turning back to Shadow, Ichigo pointed at him to indicate that he wanted the question answered.

"Just as you have a channel for your spirit energy reserved for kido, you have energy which is meant for your zanpakuto," he replied pointing at the hilt of the blade, "So, just imagine the channel being redirected towards your reserves and it should change back to its original form; and since more of your energy is being taken to generate the blade, it should be easier than trying to seal up your zanpakuto. Go on, give it a try."

Ichigo looked at Zangetsu before grasping the hilt with both hands and closing is eyes. 'Think of a water dam, change the direction the flows form the channel from the blade.' While his eyes were closed, he couldn't see the blue energy being pulled from Zangetsu towards his body, the gargantuan sword wavering and shooting up to the hands that held it while the onlookers saw this with slight concern. As the glow faded, they saw Zangetsu had resumed to the form of a worn hilt. Opening his eyes, Ichigo looked down at the hilt in his hand; he smiled at everyone before Shadow tapped him on the shoulder.

"Don't get cocky, kid. You may be quick on learning the physical forms, but ya haven't even scratched the surface of spirit energy control until ya can apply the mental training you've _just learned_ into the kido forms and wield them in battle," he reprimanded, "Also, until you've gotten past the final stage of the cooling period, you are not to loosen up your spiritual pressure like I just showed you."

"Wait," Uryu interjected, "'Final stage?' How do we know what to look for when that happens?"

"Oh you'll know, trust me." With that, he ignored her glare and turned to look at everyone else. "Now, for the rest of the day, you guys can go home and rest up."

"Oh that reminds me," Tatsuki said suddenly, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her cellphone. After pressing some buttons, she held it up to her ear. "Hey, Mom. I was wondering, is it was okay if I hung out with Ichigo and his family for a few hours before I head home? Thanks, love you too." With that, she turned to her aforementioned friend with a smile and said, "Well, that settles that."

"Wait, why're you coming over to my house?" he asked confusedly. Tatsuki just looked at him like he had just asked her how to make water.

"Well, how else am I gonna get my revenge on the pervert who used your body to steal a kiss form me?" she stated it like it was obvious to everyone.

"Wait, you can't just--" before he could finish protesting, Tatsuki walked up to him and started buttoning up his school shirt.

"The way I see it, there are two ways that I can get payback, Ichigo," she said in a cool voice. "I can either go over to your house and beat up the one who is responsible for the event or..." she trailed off turning her head to look up into his eyes, "...since it was _your_ body that kissed me, I could just hurt you instead. So, Ichigo..." her voice dropped to a deadly soft tone, "what'll it be?"

His eyebrow twitched as he thought of the pros and cons of his options. On the one hand, Yuzu and Karin would enjoy her visiting them after a long time. Plus, with her new strength, she'd tear him to pieces before he even got there just to make him say 'yes'. On the other hand, it felt like he was betraying someone who, while not a 'friend' in the traditional sense, was somewhat tolerable. And if that wasn't bad enough, he could already hear his dad screaming about grandkids even now.

**This may seem like a brain teaser to you, Ichigo, but to someone like me, it makes more sense to go with the option that doesn't involve being pummeled by the hot, psycho dragoness; you know what they say: "Better him than me."**

'Okay, what's with you? I get why you're thinking along the lines of selling out, but why did call Tatsuki "hot"?'

**Hey, I'll have you know that us hollows, arrancars included, think it's sexy to be bloody and maim people without restraint to our victims. Besides, you do remember that you'll have to talk to your baby sister about Soul Reapers and Hollows when you get home, right? Well, if she were with you, it would lessen the tension when that happens.**

Turning back to Tatsuki who was looking at him expectantly, he sighed and grumbled out, "Fine." Hearing this, Tatsuki beamed and let go of the collar of his shirt which had been held in her fist since she finished talking.

"Oh-ho," Keigo said, smiling knowingly, "Now I get it, Ichigo." Then he got up into his friend's face, blatantly ignoring the glare directed at him. "You secretly want to be alone with Tatsuki so you two can--" which was as far as he got before he got a slug from Ichigo and a high kick from Tatsuki, both in the face with a simultaneous, "SHUT UP, KEIGO!!!"

"Urahara," Chad asked, "After Ichigo's done with learning kido, what are we going to do about training him with that hollow power of his?"

"Don't know," was the answer. "I guess we'll see what to do when the Soul Society sends someone to help out with the arrancar situation."

"Yeah, about that..." Shadow said, shifting his weight from side to side and drawing everyone's attention back to him. Looking around, he knew this next statement could and probably would ignite some negative responses. "I think it might be better to wait before you tell your Soul Reaper friends about your other power."

* * *

_Seireitei, Squad 1, Captain's Meeting Quarters..._

"Now," Kurotsuchi continued, "As you see here, the Substitute Soul Reaper engaged the arrancar alone. After his initial attack, he engaged his bankai to fight."

Rukia swallowed nervously at this. If he needed to use his strongest attack to fight, then that meant things would be bad. Looking over at Renji, she saw that he looked like she felt. When he glanced at her, he smiled reassuringly. This made Rukia feel slightly better as she turned back to the screen which had shifted back to the energy signature format.

"Now, this is what I find to be particularly interesting," Kurotsuchi spoke again, his smile never leaving his face. Then, everyone present witnessed Ichigo's energy disappear from the screen before it reappeared before repeating the disappearing act several times. "I'll be the first to admit when I saw this phenomenon, I thought that there was a malfunction with the scanners."

"And that isn't the case?" Soifon asked curtly. At this, Kurotsuchi's smile dropped to a frown directed to her. Wordlessly, he messed with some dials and buttons on his remote before he made the screen rewind to the point that he had started showing.

"To answer your question, Captain Soifon, that isn't the case, no. We will now watch the same scene in the slowest speed we have." This time when it played, rather than Ichigo's signature disappearing, it became a stream that cut through the enemy, the ending drawing slowly behind him. "As you can see, he isn't vanishing; instead, the power in his bankai has made him move so fast, he is in fact moving so fast, everything around him is standing still."

As the video progressed, everyone saw that the signature was slowly starting to slow down. At this, Kurotsuchi reset the monitor to show things at normal time. "The thing here is that he's starting to slow down for some reason after moving at abnormally high velocity." Byakuya chose to speak at this.

"The reason is because his bankai is a compression of his spiritual power rather than an expansion resulting in a faster speed," he spoke calmly, "However, when he first fought me with it, his body wasn't able to handle the strain and it forced him to become immobile."

"Well then, perhaps you can explain this to me as well," Kurotsuchi said, shifting the screen to the side view. "It seems that he's more of a prodigy than we anticipated and a greater fool as well; because as it shows right here," he continued using his free hand to point at the monitor, "He was able to use his zanpakuto in bankai while he was still in his human body!"

The statement shocked everyone and it showed on all of their faces, even Soifon, Byakuya and the anthropomorphic fox captain of Squad 7 Sajin Komamura. For any Soul Reaper, even a captain, to be able to use a zanpakuto while in a physical body was a great challenge for the sealed state, let alone shikai or bankai. So to hear that Ichigo was able to do such a feat under everyone's noses for an unknown amount of time truly was something astounding. That is, until everyone heard the crunching of his bones before the arrancar kicked him away.

"Now, at this point," he continued, completely unperturbed by the fact that Ichigo was coughing up blood heavily right in front of him, "the Substitute is currently out of commission and now needs his friends to cover for his weaknesses." With this, Orihime's shield dropped and Keigo leapt into action. "Here a fighter that we haven't yet identified nor know anything about joins in."

"Hey, I know him," spoke out Izuru Kira, the blond, gloomy-looking lieutenant of Squad 3 and acting captain after the defection of Gin Ichimaru. "Ichigo Kurosaki was fighting a Bount in the Living World because of that kid. But he shouldn't have enough spiritual pressure to fight even hollows, let alone an arrancar."

"Yes, I've actually got the video feed showing the four unknowns' features," with a different pushing of buttons split the screen into quarters, each showing Keigo, Tatsuki, Mizurio and Yang in their individual pieces of the fight.

"Pardon me, Head-Captain sir," Rukia spoke out tentatively, "But I know three of those four people personally." At this, everyone's eyes settled on her and made her feel self-conscious.

"How do you know them, Miss Kuchiki?" Yamamoto asked, his long white beard moving as his mouth formed the words. With a cough from Renji, she snapped back to focus and started to speak clearly.

"The girl and the two male brunettes are Tatsuki Arisawa, Keigo Asano and Mizurio Kojima, all are friends of Ichigo Kurosaki from his high school," she began. "Tatsuki is also Orihime Inoue's best friend; until now, I've never seen any of them show signs of developing spiritual powers. The fourth one I don't recognize."

"I would imagine so, since he's the one whose power is what made me believe that we missed a Bount," Kurotsuchi said, shifting Yang's square to fill the screen and show him activating Yin's power. "That however, isn't any cause for concern at the present time."

"And what do you consider to be worse than another Bount?" asked Komamura.

"Why, this is," Kurotsuchi replied, his grin growing to manic levels. With an adjustment of the dial, he jumped the screen to show the man in black holding his sword behind his empty hand. As the scene played out, they all saw it transform into a familiar looking halberd.

"Is that...?" asked Ukitake, eyes wide.

"Yes, the Sokyoku, as Captain Hitsugaya theorized a month ago, has been reconstructed," Mayuri replied, as he fast-forwarded to the point where fire was being shot from the blade in the form of a firebird. "And our mystery man seems to be able to, at some level, control it for personal battles."

Hearing this, everyone showed shock on their faces, even the Head-Captain Yamamoto had to open his eyes at this new fact. Once the Sokyoku was released, it took the best of the kido corps to reseal it due to its great power. For one man to not only use it without its spiritual power overwhelming him, but to also be able to seal it into a smaller form was astounding, and at the same time, terrifying. It was Captain Kyoraku who broke the tension with a smile.

"Now now, everybody, let's not get in a panic; this might be good for us in my opinion." All eyes turned to him in confusion with his proclamation.

"Shunsui, I'm afraid that I don't quite understand what you mean," said the soft, motherly voice of Retsu Unohana, the captain of Squad 4. Turning his gaze over to his friend, taking her long dark hair tied into a braid that went down the front of her shihakusho with her zanpakuto hanging from her shoulder on its rope and the face that made everyone trust her as the head healer of the 13 Guard Squads. Pushing back his hat to look her in the eye, he answered her with a cheeky wink.

"Well, if we're goin' by Mayuri's footage, I'd like to point out that, even if he's right about that boy with the ponytail being a Bount, that boy's been helping Ichigo's friends to get him out of danger and he has shown skills that would give some of us a run for our money. Also," he continued shifting his gaze to the rest of the Soul Reapers before him, "I should probably mention that both of them are fighting the arrancars, so at the very least, they're against Aizen; meaning that maybe they could help us out."

"An interesting theory, Captain Kyoraku," Soifon spoke curtly, "But you're making a point of overlooking the fact that he attacked one of the Captains when we confronted him." To her chagrin, he only chuckled.

"And you're overlooking the fact that Captain Hitsugaya, yourself, and both of your lieutenants as well as Captain Zaraki and Lieutenant Kusajishi admitted that Kenpachi made the first attack," he countered, "So that means when he fought back, it was in self-defense more than assault. Besides, Yoruichi didn't seem to be worried about them being there, so that's something right?" Growling, Soifon turned her head away, hoping no one noticed her blush in embarrassment.

"ENOUGH!!" Yamamoto called forcefully. Hearing this, everybody stopped talking and turned to face him. "While Captain Kyoraku makes an excellent point about the strong chance of him being against Aizen, we must also remember that, with the evidence the Captain Kurotsuchi has presented, it isn't a chance that worth risking the safety of the Seireitei after the events in the Bounts; at least not without proper conformation from Kisuke Urahara who is currently watching Karakura with the Substitute Soul Reaper, Ichigo Kurosaki. In addition, we must learn more about the powers that his friends possess in case it might become a problem."

"What do you suggest then, Yamamoto-sensei?" Ukitake asked.

"Captain Hitsugaya, Captain Soifon," he directed, "Has your team been assembled yet?"

"Yes, Head-Captain sir," Toshiro said coolly, Soifon nodding in agreement.

"Be prepared; you leave for the Living World tonight! We cannot let this rapscallion get away with this any longer! You are all dismissed!"

"Yes sir!" echoed throughout the hall and everyone turned to leave until his spoke again.

"Jushiro, Shunsui, Retsu, stay behind for a little while longer; this is a private matter that must be discussed between us and us alone."

Hearing this, Rukia and Renji turned back to look at the three who were called out.

"Come, Renji, Rukia. It isn't any of your concern, so you need not hear this; anyway, you two have to return to gather your possessions for the mission," Byakuya said calmly as he walked past; Renji nodded and moved but Rukia hesitated. Ukitake turned to look at her and smiled reassuringly.

"It's all right, Rukia," he answered her worry. "Just go on ahead and tell Kiyone and Sentaro that I got held up so that they won't worry about me." With that, she nodded with a small smile and flash stepped back to the Squad 13 barracks.

"Is something troubling you, sensei?" Ukitake said, resuming his serious face. At first, Yamamoto didn't speak; then he looked at his three original students and asked them something they weren't expecting.

"Do you recall what Captain Hitsugaya and Captain Soifon said that the intruder called me before he escaped?" Hearing this, they all looked at each other before returning to look at him.

"If I recall, they said he called you Sourgrapes, old man Yama," Shunsui said with a cheeky smile on his face.

"Why does this concern you so much, Captain Yamamoto?" Unohana asked curiously.

"I have been called many names in my lifetime: Head-Captain, Yamamoto-sensei, even, as you just said, 'old man Yama'," he replied with a pointed look at Shunsui who smiled sheepishly. "And yet, only one man has ever had the gall to use such a name with me with complete disregard to rank or age. For our intruder to know such a name and be able to use the Sokyoku as expertly as him cannot be mere coincidence."

Ukitake, Kyoraku and Unohana looked at each other nervously. They remembered the person who he was talking about; and if things were going in the direction that the three of the oldest captains assumed things were going, then there was more trouble than they thought.

"Y-you don't mean..." Unohana stuttered nervously. Yamamoto nodded.

"Yes. I believe that the Black Dragon has returned and he's making his movement through Ichigo Kurosaki and the other humans."

* * *

_**Next time on Shadows Are Rising:**_

"I don't know what you're thinking, Shadow, but you'd better be sure about all this."

"Alright bro; you wanted to talk, so let's talk."

"OH MY GOD! WHAT IS THAT?!?!"

* * *

_**So, I'd really appreciate it if more people were to actually put down a vote in the pole on my homepage. Also, I wouldn't mind if more people were to review my story (though I like how many people have made this story their favorites). Don't be a fool and watch out for a cranky rabbit with a basket of colorful, hard-boiled eggs.**_

_**P.S. I didn't mean to offend anyone who plays Dungeons & Dragons. I'm just not that into it.**_

_**P.P.S. Did anyone else notice that, if you put Ichigo's bankai coat over his new hollow form, those tufts of hair on his collar and wrists make it look a lot like Zangetsu's coat on his spirit form or am I just thinking too hard?**_

**--Twin Shadows**


	8. Chapter 7: Ties That Bind, Siren's Call

_**Seriously, I'm not trying to a jerk or a complainer, but I really do wish that more people would review my story so I can get more of a feedback on how I can improve my work. Also, so far there have been 26 people who have made choices in my poll for if you want me to put in a pairing(s) into the mix. Since each person is allowed to make a total of 4 picks for any of the present choices and you can send in any suggestions via review, I really want more people to make their voices heard.**_

_**(Okay; from now on, I'm doing my review responses **_**after **_**I finish writing the chapter. It's just going to be better for me to not worry about the changing draft.)**_

_**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to Bleach in any way, shape, or form. I do claim ownership to my OCs, however, so if anyone needs to borrow them for one of their stories, just send a review requesting the use, along with a basic idea of the story you're writing and the promise they won't be used as villains. I wouldn't mind if they were either made into anti-heroes or anti-villains, just no making them classic villains.**_

**-- TwinShadows**

**Shadows Are Rising**

**Chapter 7: Ties That Bind, Siren's Call**

_Karakura Town, Urahara Shop…_

"See you later, everybody," Urahara called out to everyone as they all left the shop. Standing on his left was his assistant Tessai Tsukabishi. He was a 6-and-1/2 foot tall, muscular, dark-skinned man with square-shaped glasses and his hair tied back into several bunches, braided at the ends and a handlebar mustache under his nose. He wore a white shirt that showed his chest muscles under a blue apron and tan slacks with brown shoes. Like Chad, he was calm-mannered despite his large size.

On Urahara's other side, there were his two other workers, a boy and girl named Jinta Hanakari and Ururu Tsumugiya respectively. Jinta had red hair to rival Renji's which was pointed into three spikes and wore the uniform of the Urahara Shop with his blue jeans with the pant sleeves rolled up past his knees: a white shirt with the shop logo printed on the front. Like his hair color implied, he was a hothead who snapped and tortured Ururu and needed Tessai to keep him in line. Ururu had her black hair done in two ponytails on either side of her head with a bang down the middle of her face with the end split into two directions in between her droopy eyes. With her clothes, she had the uniform shirt and a pink polka-dot dress. Contrary to her partner in work Jinta, Ururu was a quiet, shy girl whose voice didn't travel very far when she spoke.

Though they were the smallest of the occupants of the Urahara Shop 'family', they were by no means weak. Jinta was strong enough to swing a large metal bat, which tied into his dreams of being a professional baseball player, and Ururu had the hand-to-hand combat skills of a captain-class soul reaper, which was needed in the restoration of Ichigo's Soul Reaper powers before he and his friends went to the Soul Society to save Rukia, as well as being able to use a large multi-barreled shoulder cannon/rocket launcher.

When the group of teenagers was out of sight, Urahara turned to go back inside when he felt a tug at the back of his coat; turning to look over his shoulder, he saw Ururu's hand grasping the end of it.

"Mr. Kisuke, are those two going to stay here?" she asked.

"Yeah, Mr. Kisuke," Jinta's sharp voice interjected, "The last thing we need is another Mr. Moocher around this place." The name was the personal nickname that he and the rest of the Urahara Shop to Renji Abarai when he was staying at the Shop during the episode with the Bounts.

"No, you guys don't have to worry about that," Urahara said turning back to the door. "They don't stay in a place where they feel enclosed. Besides," he said smirking, "Yin and Yoruichi get along like cats and dogs; we won't get them to be in the same space without a fight breaking out." He then chuckled at his own joke while the kids sweatdropped at this.

"That's kinda sad what he did there, huh Ururu?"

"Uh-huh." With this, Tessai spoke in a deep voice.

"That's quite enough. Shadow and Yang will be coming here more as time goes along to train the new kids that are with Ichigo, so during that time you will show them the same courtesy that you'd show Mr. Kisuke and Miss Yoruichi. Understand?" this final word was followed by a shifting in the reflection of light on his glasses which made him seem dangerous.

"Yes, Tessai," Ururu said, while Jinta just crossed his arms and muttered, "Yeah, sure."

"Good," Tessai replied, straightening up and walking through the sliding door and towards the backroom where Kisuke, Yoruichi and Yang were sitting at a circular table while Shadow was leaning on the wall with his hands in his coat pockets.

"I don't know what you're thinking, Shadow, but you'd better be sure about all this," Yoruichi said, looking hard at him.

"I don't like this situation anymore than you do, Yoruichi," he replied turning his head to look at her, "But we have to remember that there are some Soul Reapers are still prejudiced about hollows, and there are still the laws that are still set to treat the Vizards as hollows, despite the murder of the Central 46; so we have to be careful about who gets this information, since possessing and withholding information about this kind of thing would be considered treasonous and warrant the Stealth Force to hunt them down."

"Sooner or later though, it will get out in the open," Urahara said sitting down, "Whether or not he decides to tell his friends. And once he tells them, _you'll_ be the one to take the heat for telling him not to tell them in the first place."

Yang decided to speak up at that moment. "It might be best if we wait until we reach that bridge before we cross it. Right now, Aizen's forces are growing and if they're anything like the two that we fought in the park, we'll need our focus."

"Right," Shadow said, "So, just out of curiosity, does anyone else have a lesson plan ready for the kids so they can learn more about their powers?" This question turned the group's attention to a new topic of discussion, though they all had the former one still hard pressed into their minds the whole time.

* * *

"Well, this is where I go," Chad said, turning down a new street. "I'll see you guys tomorrow at school."

"Alright, Chad we'll see you," Ichigo said holding up his hand in a slight wave. Nodding, Chad walked to his apartment.

"I've got to go this way myself," Uryu said, pushing up his glasses as he moved down a different road. "There's someone at the hospital that I need to see before I head home."

"Oh, Uryu," Orihime said smiling, "You're so nice; going to see someone who's sick and needs someone to make them feel happy." Hearing this praise, Uryu's cheek went slightly red.

"It's no problem at all Orihime," he said, not having the heart to tell her _who_ he was going to see at the hospital. Turning to look at Ichigo, he said, "See you tomorrow, Ichigo."

"Right." With that, Uryu moved towards his destination.

"So, Orihime," Keigo spoke slyly, sliding up to stand next her. "Would you like me to walk you ho--" Before Tatsuki jabbed him in the jaw and sent him into a wall.

"You'd think he'd learn by now," she said coolly at the others. Mizurio just went over to his fallen friend and pulled Keigo's arm over his shoulder and started dragging him off down the road.

"I think I'll just take him home, his sister will know what to do with him," he called out. If Keigo was conscious, he would have started bawling after hearing this. His older sister, Mizuho Asano, was a tyrant and enjoyed making her little brother do whatever she wanted. So, it was understandable that hearing that name made Ichigo and even Tatsuki shudder; Orihime, who was lucky enough to have not been introduced to her, just looked confused at her friends' reactions.

"Well, I should head home too," Orihime said, putting her index finger to her chin in thought. "If I'm going to have enough time to defrost the chicken, I'll need to set out the red bean paste for my spinach puffs." Hearing this, Ichigo and Tatsuki looked at each other before looking back her and smiling awkwardly at her next suggestion. "Well, bye guys. I'll bring you some leftovers if I have any." With that, she waved and started to jog back to her home.

"I swear that it's gonna be her cooking that does her in," Ichigo commented, staring after her. Tatsuki nodded dumbly before grabbing his arm and pulling him along towards the Kurosaki Clinic. "Hey! Knock it off! Tatsuki!"

"Quit complaining, Ichigo! It's not like you were gonna move on your own!"

* * *

_Karakura Hospital, Director's Office…_

Sitting behind the large desk in a chair was a man with white hair and looking through frameless glasses at his paperwork. He wore a light-colored suit on a blue collared shirt buttoned up to his throat; a tie covered with crosses printed all over it to match the crosses that were on the walls and ceiling of the rest of the hospital. Hearing the opening and closing of his door, Ryuken Ishida turned to look at his son, whose glasses reflected the afternoon sunlight. "Well," he prompted, causing Uryu to shift his head, losing the light reflection n his glasses to reveal his eyes glaring at hi father.

"I want my Quincy powers back."

"And…?" Ryuken urged further, waiting for Uryu to do what he expected him to do and swear not to be involved in the Soul Reapers' business. To his surprise, Uryu just lifted his arm and summoned his bow, the shimmering electric blue glow illuminating the office.

"And I don't need you to do that," he replied calmly, letting his bow disappear. "So, now that that's taken care of, I'll leave you to your work, _father_," putting a scathing tone to the final word and turned to leave.

"Just a minute, Uryu." Turning to look over his shoulder, Uryu saw his father bending down to rummage around in a drawer in his desk before standing up and holding out a stack of books to him. "These are for advanced Quincy techniques including ginto(silver tube) techniques and training practices. I'll also be sending other items to your place with overnight shipping once I collect them; among which will be a set of Seele Schneider(Soul Cutter), new ginto tubes for you to use, and…"

"HOLD ON!!" Uryu yelled, "You told me that I have no talent as a Quincy, but you'll restore my powers if I follow your rules; I tell you I don't need you to make me stronger yet you're giving me the means to do so? Why are acting like you think I can do these things?! TELL ME, RYUKEN!!" His father just looked at him apathetically before speaking.

"I said I'd give you these items; I never said I expected you to be able to master them." Hearing this, Uryu's went wide in shock before glaring harder.

"Then what's the point of doing this?"

"Think for a minute, Uryu. You have lost and restored your powers twice now. So, why do you think I'm giving you the tools of a Quincy when I don't think you're capable of utilizing them?" For a moment, there was silence, then…

"You sadistic bastard," Uryu ground out through clenched teeth, "You're just giving me these tools because you waiting for me to lose my powers again. Then, I'll have to turn to you since I won't have the means of using the tools to their fullest power without the powers of a Quincy." Turning angrily, Uryu snatched the books from his father's hand. "Well, you just send those tools my way; then, the next time we meet Ryuken, not only will I still have my powers, but I'll have proven that I do have the right to be called 'The Last Quincy'." At that, he threw the door pen and stormed out, the force of his swing causing the door to hit the wall and leave a dent in the plaster. Ryuken said nothing as he quietly closed his office door and returned to his work.

* * *

_Chad's apartment…_

"Noba, I'm home," Chad called out as he closed the door behind him and walked into the living room. As he sat down, a plush turtle hopped onto the tabletop to look up at him. The turtle stood on his hind legs and wore gray dress pants and a white ruffle shirt with a bow tie. In reality, he was a Modsoul created by Kisuke Urahara to help Ichigo and his friends fight the Bounts and had the ability to teleport.

"How was your day?" he asked Chad.

"Fine. Got to meet some new people."

"Everything alright?"

"I think so."

"Good." With that, the two fell silent for the rest of the evening.

* * *

_Orihime's apartment…_

Orihime opened the apartment door, humming as she entered and used her foot to close the door behind her. At this, a pink rabbit plushie came running to meet her. Kurodo's plushie body had red rings on the feet and tops of his ears with a zipper on the top of his head and red and yellow poncho with a black-and-yellow tie around his "neck." He also had a black strap for people to carry him around as a purse.

"Ah, Orihime, how was your day?" he said in a jovial voice.

"Oh, Kurodo, it was fine," she replied with a smile. "I got to meet some new friends and Tatsuki, Keigo and Mizurio all have powers just like me and Chad, Uryu and Ichigo."

"Well, it sounds like you've had a full day," he said nodding approvingly. "So, how about I help you make dinner?"

"That's so nice, thank you." But even as she followed the Modsoul into the kitchen, Orihime couldn't help but feel a little scared that her friends were forced into this world that could end up taking them away from her; she didn't want to think about what she would do if something were to happen to Tatsuki. Thinking of her oldest friend also brought a new emotion to her heart, one that had lately come when she had seen Ichigo with Rukia: jealousy.

She'd hated herself for feeling this way about the two who were good friends to her, but she couldn't help it; both girls had been there for her object of affection and were able to see sides to him that she hadn't seen as much as she would have liked: the gentle older brother, the warm and smiling Ichigo, even the happy mama's boy that had existed before he lost his mother. Now, with Tatsuki being able to fight hollows with them, she felt like she was facing a competition between the other two. But she hoped that, if Ichigo did choose one of them over her, she would be big enough to stand aside and allow Ichigo and either Rukia or Tatsuki to be happy.

"Are you feeling alright, Orihime?" Kurodo's worried voice broke through her thoughts and brought her back to her kitchen. Looking down at him, she saw he was looking at her with nervous eyes and a hand/ear on his bottom lip with concern.

"Oh, oh yes, I'm fine," she said hurriedly, waving her arms frantically and giggling nervously, hoping to distract him. "I just thought about if Tatsuki could beat a giant in arm-wrestling with her new strength."

"Oh," came the reply, along with a crossing of the arms and a thoughtful look. "Well, if your friend's as strong as you say, I can't say with absolute certainty who would win."

"Yeah, you're right," she said, before her mind shifted to a new topic. "Oh, I for got! I still need to make dinner." With the previous thoughts of envy removed from her mind, Orihime started taking ingredients from her cabinets, Kurodo hopping alongside her.

* * *

_1__0 feet from Kurosaki Clinic…_

After Ichigo had convinced Tatsuki to stop dragging him like a dog on a leash, she had lent him her cellphone to call ahead and give Yuzu a chance to get another place set at the table for dinner. While they were walking, Ichigo had been quiet and kept his eyes on the ground. Tatsuki was starting to get unnerved by this and was starting to feel left out again.

'What if he's thinking that I'm still weak and need protecting, even after I showed him my stuff today?' Naturally, she decided that she had to know what he was thinking, so she did the only(in her mind) logical thing: she punched in the stomach.

"Wha-what was that for?" he wheezed. Even though he could tell that she had held back, he thought he had felt a couple of ribs bruising.

"What's with you? You haven't said one thing since you told your family we were coming," she said, hands on her hips. "If something's bothering you, then tell me. That's what friends do for one another."

"Sorry, Tats," he said, feeling even lower than he had before. "It's just that I can't get what Shadow said out of my head; you know, about keep Cazador a secret from Rukia, Renji and everyone else." Hearing this, Tatsuki thought back to what happened after Shadow had said to keep Ichigo's hollow powers out of the spotlight.

_/15 minutes ago…/_

_"What?!" Ichigo asked incredulously. Shadow had just told them all to lie to their friends about a crucial factor that could make or break a battle not to mention the bonds he had with them._

_"Calm down, Ichigo," Yang said, placing his hand on the young man's shoulder in an attempt to placate him._

_"WHY?! Because he says something, you just believe he's right?" Ichigo said, jabbing his finger at Shadow._

_"No, I'm telling you to calm down so that you don't do something you'll regret without knowing the whole story," Yang replied, tightening his grip._

_"Then I suggest he explain it before _I_ make a move I'll regret," Uryu added, eyes flashing as he shifted his glasses. At this, Shadow spoke again._

_"I'm advising you to hold off telling them because they're probably already worried about you as it is and telling them this might be enough to send them over the edge."_

_"How would it do that?" Chad asked, his eyes looking with concern through his brown hair._

_"How about you all picture this: Ichigo's spiritual pressure drops down to that of a normal human's, he fights against Aizen's new warriors when they appear inside his human body, and his bankai's power becomes so strong that he moves faster than sight can keep up with, and there are now three more humans who can fight against hollows in Karakura," he explained. "All of this, I might add, is happening within the time span of 24 hours. Your friends will want to know why all this is happening to you; do you know how much stress the knowledge of you having your hollow powers will put on them if you were to tell them right after they had found you relatively safe and sound?"_

_Hearing this, everyone fell silent. When he had said that out loud, they couldn't help but think about how it made sense in a way. With Ichigo's spirit energy normally running rampant all over the place, it would be logical to see how the people in the Soul Society would become unnerved; and if they had figured out that Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizurio had become strong enough to fight alongside Ichigo, Chad, Uryu and Orihime, that would make cause for concern without adding more. Looking over at the others for confirmation, Ichigo got reluctant nods before turning back to look at Shadow. "Fine, we'll wait for the moment to tell them."_

_/Return to Present/_

"It feels really bad, Tatsuki," Ichigo said, "I feel like I've gotta keep so many secrets for those who are close to me, and the more I keep hidden, the bigger this pain on my heart gets." Turning to look at her before adding, "That's how I felt whenever I lied to you." Hearing this, she felt her heart speed up a little, though she didn't know why that was. So, she just sighed before speaking again.

"Yeah, I get that, Ichigo, and I know that I don't know what you're going through, since I only got these abilities today and I haven't had to deal with keeping secrets yet, but" she paused to turn and smile at him, "I know that you'll know what to do when the time comes; besides, they wouldn't be your friends if they didn't get that there are things you need to do on your own."

Allowing a small smile back, he nodded and said a quiet, "Thanks," before he continued to walk forward, feeling the weight on his chest lift… until a new weight came crashing down on him in the form of Isshin Kurosaki, who had been waiting on the roof for his son and guest to come.

"TISK, TISK, MY SON; YOU''RE GETTING SLOPPY!" he said in a booming voice as he put Ichigo into a chock-hold. "HOW DO YOU EXECT TO PROTECT YOUR FUTURE WIFE IF YOU CAN'T EVEN BLOCK A NUT PROWLING ON THE ROOF?!" Hearing this, Tatsuki put her foot down on this nonsense… over and over and over on Isshin's skull.

"WHO SAYS I NEED TO BE PROTECTED, HUH?! I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF, THANKS!!"

'Weird,' Ichigo thought as he looked at Tatsuki beating his dad, 'She didn't even try to deny the fact that he called her "my future wife". Maybe I should…'

**That's not a good idea, Ichigo. It'll just give your psycho dad a new chance to embarrass you **_**and**_** her. Why take that chance?**

_Perhaps if you were to remind her that your sisters are waiting, she'll calm down enough till after dinner._

'Gotcha,' he thought before he moved to tap Tatsuki's shoulder. "I know you still want to hurt him, but maybe you should wait until after we go see Karin and Yuzu; they sounded like they were happy that you're coming to visit."

Hearing this, she dropped her anger towards her friend's father and was immediately civil. "Sounds great, Ichigo. I've missed seeing your sisters too. Let's move; we don't want Yuzu's dinner to get cold." With that, she dropped Isshin onto the ground and walked past Ichigo to the front door.

"Oh-ho, Ichigo," Isshin chuckled slyly, "I can tell ya, when you two get ready to have kids, the ride is gonna--" before Ichigo backfisted him in the nose, grumbling, "Give it a rest, you stupid old perv," and following Tatsuki to the door.

* * *

"I'm home, guys," he called as he and Tatsuki stepped into the hallway. "And I brought Tatsuki." Hearing her older brother, Yuzu came from the kitchen with a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon while wearing a pink apron over her dress.

"Where were you, Ichigo? You should have been home awhile ago," she scolded. Glancing between the two of them, Tatsuki stepped into the front with a smile. Seeing her, Yuzu's attitude flipped and went into 'hostess mode', including a warm smile, complete with sparkles around her face. "Oh, Tatsuki! It's so go to see you again. It's a good thing Ichigo called ahead and said you were coming over to 'hang out' as the kids nowadays say or I'd be so embarrassed right now." Turning to head back into the kitchen, she called over her shoulder, "Dinner will be ready in a little bit; could you guys go upstairs and get Karin so that she can wash up, please?"

"Sure, no problem," Tatsuki called back before following Ichigo the girls' room upstairs.

Outside the door, Ichigo knocked on the door and called out, "Yo, Karin; you in there?" After a couple seconds, the door opened to show Karin with an annoyed look on her face as she leaned on the door frame.

"Next time, speak a little louder Ichigo," she said dully, "I don't think the people in Osaka heard you all that clearly." Shifting her gaze to Tatsuki, her eyes widened slightly and she hurriedly started speaking. "T-Tatsuki! I'm-I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."

"No biggie, Karin," she dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Yuzu said that dinners almost ready and she wants you to wash up."

"Ye-Yeah, okay," the younger girl replied before her role model went down the hall to her older brother's room. When Tatsuki had gotten out of earshot, Karin slapped her brother on the shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me she was right there, bro?! Was it too much to think I'd need a heads-up on something like this?! HUH?!" Then dropping the frustration, she muttered, "After dinner, will we be able to talk with Tatsuki around?"

"She knows too, Karin. And she started fighting hollows today, so I think it will ne easier for all of us if she was included in this discussion, don't you?" Nodding, Karin moved to the bathroom to get ready for dinner and Ichigo moved to his bedroom to see Tatsuki with arms crossed and tapping her foot impatiently.

"What?" he asked cautiously.

"Where's this Kon guy so I can pummel him for taking advantage of me and Orihime?" she replied. Sighing, Ichigo moved to get Kon and Ririn as well as their doll forms. Seeing the dolls, Tatsuki said, "You still play with dolls? You know I'll use this as blackmail at school if you annoy me right?"

"News flash, Tatsuki, when I don't use Kon to separate from my body to take care of hollows, I keep him in this doll for safe keeping," he said annoyed, holding up the lion-bear that Kon had as a second body, "Which is why I need you to careful about how you beat him up."

"What? The pervert took advantage of two of your friends and your body and you want me to go easy on him?" she asked incredulously.

"No, because Yuzu likes this doll, calls it 'Bostov' for some reason and dresses him up in flowery clothes when she has him." Hearing this, Tatsuki stifled a chuckle as Ichigo placed the two pills into the dolls before placing them on the ground and standing back to watch as they came to life.

"ICHIGO!!" Ririn shouted, jumping up and hitting him. "HOW DARE YOU FORGET ABOUT US, YOU BIG DOPE?!?! WELL, WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?!?!"

"Alright, it's payback time," she heard a menacing voce from behind. Turning around, she saw Tatsuki cracking her fists with a wicked grin on her face. "Nice to meet you again, _Kon!_"

'Kon?' Ririn thought before she looked down at her hands…and saw that they were paws instead of her usual wings. Frantically, she tried to explain. "Wait-wait a minute. I'm not Kon; I'm Ririn, a different Modsoul. You gotta believe me!"

"Sorry, Ririn," Ichigo said before hitting her in the head with his Substitute Soul Reaper license, knocking out the pill.

"Hey!" Tatsuki said indignantly, "I was about to pummel him. Why'd ya save him?"

"I mixed up the Modsoul pills," he clarified before pointing to the bird doll that was trying to slink off behind her. "_That's_ Kon." Hearing his name Kon froze, which was a mistake since that left Tatsuki with the chance to grab him and hold him out to Ichigo.

"Put him in his right body; I want my vengeance on the right target _in_ the right target." Nodding, Ichigo slammed the license and placed Ririn into her right body and Kon in his.

"ICHIGO!! WHY?!" Kon wailed, trying to escape form his captor's grasp. "HOW CAN YOU HAVE FORSAKEN ME?!?!?!"

"Well, it serves you right for trying to leave me to take the rap for _your_ crime," Ririn accused, with a pointed wing at the guilty party. Then, she remembered Tatsuki was holding her. "I-I mean--" she stammered before speaking in a cutesy voice, "You're my bestest friend ever."

"Jig's up, Ririn," Ichigo said, tightening his fist around a struggling Kon. "Don't worry, she knows about everything and she just wants to hurt Kon for something he did to her from before you came."

"Speaking of which," Tatsuki said grabbing Kon around his throat as she snatched him from Ichigo and putting Ririn onto the bed. Looking down at the helpless Modsoul in her hand, Tatsuki gave a rather Kenpachi Zaraki-like grin. "Now, where were we?"

Kon was saved by a knock on the bedroom door. "Ichigo, Tatsuki, it's time for dinner," Yuzu called to them. Looking down at Kon, Tatsuki's grin grew larger and she moved to the door and opened it to show the little girl. "We'll be right down," she said calmly, "By the way, I found this," she held up Kon for the girl to see, "in the hallway and Ichigo said you were missing it and that I should wait to give it to you personally."

Yuzu's eyes went wide as she smiled happily and grabbed the lion-bear to hold him to her chest. "You found Bostov! Thank you both so much!" She left to put her 'Bostov' in her and Karin's room for later. As she left, Kon was visible from over her shoulder, tears running down his cheeks as he looked pleadingly at the others to save him; to which his response was Tatsuki waving with a big grin on her face as she shut the door.

"I thought you wanted revenge on him."

"Well, I figured that nothing I could come up with would be anywhere near as bad to him as having to suffer as Yuzu's plaything. Coming?" With that, she left for dinner. Ichigo just staring after her before following her, amazed at the evil genius that had left and hoped that that vengeful creativity never shifted onto him.

**Us too, partner, us too.

* * *

**

Dinner passed pretty uneventfully: Karin and Yuzu talked about Tatsuki abut what was new with the three of them, Ichigo and his dad fought, Isshin got hurt and complained to his memorial poster of his wife ("He still does that?" Tatsuki asked. "All the time," was the simultaneous response of Ichigo and Karin.) After dinner, Ichigo and Tatsuki excused themselves to go to Ichigo's room and wait for Karin (it was her turn to do the dishes).

"So, where exactly did Rukia hide out while she was powerless?" Tatsuki asked casually.

"My closet, and before you say anything, she had chosen to hide there, I had no say in the matter."

"Amazing," she said, looking into the small space. "It's so tiny in here and yet she slept in here without any complaints."

"Well, she is a midget," he said smirking, "A fact she would hit me constantly for if she heard it." Then, rummaging in the drawer of his desk, he pulled out a piece of paper and held it out to his fellow occupant. "This was what she hit me for more often than when I insulted her height." Taking the paper and looking at it, Tatsuki felt her mind shut down. On the paper was what she supposed was a diagram of some kind, explaining some scenario or other. But what got her was that it used cutesy drawings of bunnies and bears as characters all over it.

"What the hell is this? I drew better than this crap back when I was 5 and this is her best when she's 150," she said pulling a face. This made Ichigo chuckle.

"Yeah, they suck all right, and she'll use her notebook full of them to beat anyone who says that about her 'works of art'." That got the two of them laughing as Karin opened the door and stepped in.

"Alright bro; you wanted to talk, so let's talk."

* * *

**15 minutes later…**

Karin just stood there, ogling her older brother and her idol. They had left nothing out: Ichigo had repeated his encounters in the Soul Society and the Bounts and Tatsuki had gone on to telling her about the new powers she and Ichigo's other friends had gotten and used to save her big brother against these new monsters.

While she was standing there taking it all in, Ichigo was sitting on his chair by his desk, worrying about what Karin would do now that she knew all about this. 'If I know Karin like I think I do, she's gonna start trying to convince me to let her continue fighting hollows like she's been doing since I left to save Rukia from her false execution.' Glancing at Tatsuki who was lying on her side on his bed (he had to do everything in his power to block out the kind of suggestions Cazador was throwing his way), he continued thinking, 'And knowing Tatsuki, she'll actually support Karin fighting. Neither will drop the subject until I cave; well, I'll just have to deal with this.'

"Okay," Karin said finally, "Now, here's how I see it--"

"No." Startled, both girls just blinked at the third person in the room.

"Hey, Ichigo!" Karin started, "You don't even know what I was about to say, so you don't get to say 'no' until you know what I'm going to tell you!"

"You're gonna start telling me that you want to continue fighting hollows, just like you've been doing, since we both know what the other's doing. I also know your not gonna stop asking me once it's out in the open. That's why I'm gonna stop you from asking it now so that you don't ask the question. And before you interject, Tatsuki," he continued, seeing his friend trying to come to Karin's rescue, "I already thought that you'd try to get me to change my mind, but you have to remember that you've been fighting the enemy for about a day, even though you've been able to see them for a long time. You don't really know about the full dangers there are out there."

"Then tell us, Ichigo!! Tell us what!!" Karin's voice started to pick up in volume as she became desperate. She knew her brother would try to stop her, but to try and end it before she had the chance to plead her case was just cruel to her.

"You really want to know?" he asked quietly, standing up. "Do you both want to understand what you'll be risking if I let you go on with your fight?" Looking at Tatsuki, he saw her get up and move to stand by Karin. Sighing, he looked at them directly in the eyes and said, "Then don't look away," before he unbuttoned his shirt and took off his undershirt, tossing both of them onto his bed.

The sight that greeted the two of them was nothing which either of them had expected. There on Ichigo's torso were several large scars, all from fights he had been in. There were two on the upper torso, one on each of his shoulders, then moving down to the sternum, there was a vertical line that showed where someone had stabbed him through and finally, across his abdomen, was a scar that reached from one hip to the other; where Aizen had cut through him.

"_THIS_," he said softly but firmly, "Is what happens when get in deep, Karin: you face against people who want to hurt you, who don't care how young or old or strong or weak you are. If you're in the way of them getting what they want, they won't hesitate to cut you down. These scars, they're just the ones that Orihime couldn't heal; and they're nothing compared to the scars up here," he added, pointing to the side of his head before moving his finger to point towards his heart "Or the ones in here."

While she continued to stare at him, Karin's eyes started to water at seeing her brother like this. There were people who had willingly hurt her big brother and left such reminders like these tore into her heart as the tears spilled over and she couldn't hold it in. She moved over to him and threw her arms around his waist, sobbing and begging silently that this was all just a nightmare and when she woke up, her brother wouldn't carry these marks of hate.

Tatsuki just stood where she was, her fists clenched and willing herself not to lose it. Karin was allowed to since she had had her world shattered before her eyes by her brother, her brother who had been carrying something like _this_ and kept it to himself for so long. Now she got why he didn't want her or anyone else involved in this. 'He didn't want anyone else to go through the hell he had, all so that he could protect us.'

"I don't want this life for you, Karin. I don't want you to have to feel the sting of cold steel rip into you or carry the burden of having all this pain and having no one else who will truly understand what you're going through. I want you to be free of those scars; scars that you'll have to endure for the rest of your life if I allow you to go in more than you already have."

"Then I'll carry my scars!!" She sobbed into his stomach before looking up at him with tear streaked eyes. "We can talk to each other when we're hurt, Ichigo. Just don't," she started to hiccup, "don't get -hic- hurt alone anymore, please."

He wrapped his arms around her small shoulders and held her close to him. Feeling another pair of arms around him and Karin, he glanced at Tatsuki whose face was between the two siblings. "That goes double for me, Ichigo."

_Never forget, Ichigo. You are not without those who love you. Just remember to let them in._

**See, when I wanted you to get close to a girl, I was thinking, oh I don't know, some cuddling, maybe a little making out. THIS TOUCHING, FAMILY DRAMA CRAP WASN'T PART OF THAT IMAGE, DOLT!!!**

'Shut up, Cazador; me and the girls need this so keep it down, alright?' Turning to look at his sister, he smiled softly and wiped her tears away with his thumb. "If you are gonna fight with us, you'll need training," before shifting to look stern, "And I mean _proper_ training, not the fast-paced, reckless stuff I had to do. That's the deal, okay?"

Smiling up at him Karin nodded, happy to have her brother's trust. Tatsuki just held the two Kurosaki siblings before remembering the current situation. "Uh, Ichigo…"

"Yeah?"

"I think you should put your shirt back on before Yuzu, or worse, your moronic dad comes in and thinks that something _really_ wrong is happening here," she told him, blushing. Hearing this, the brother and sister went scarlet and split apart, Ichigo grabbing his shirt. "Well, I've gotta… you know," she added, looking at the door.

"Right," Ichigo muttered before looking back at her. "Well, I'll see ya tomorrow then, Tats."

"Ya better believe it," she smirked before patting Karin on the shoulder. "You take care of him for me, okay Karin?"

"Sure, have a good night, Tatsuki," she said, grinning. Tatsuki opened the door and headed downstairs to say goodbye to Yuzu. Looking back at her brother, Karin said, "So, I was just wondering…"

"We'll get on your training as soon as I get the rest of the guys up to speed on this."

"That's good to know, but what I really want to know is… how long you think it'll take before Tatsuki has to beat up Dad on the way out?" as she said this, both could hear a loud crash followed what sounded suspiciously like, "WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP?!?!" Looking at each other, they started to chuckle.

"Not long from the sound of it," he commented before reaching out and ruffling his little sister's dark tresses. "Now, you try and get some sleep, okay squirt?"

"Hey, I'm not a squirt," she huffed defiantly, "I'm the right height for my age; that Rukia girl, she's a squirt. Night, bro," she said, throwing a wave over her shoulder as she closed the door.

"You know," Ririn said, crawling out from under the bed, "You may be an insensitive, jerky moron most of the time; but under all that gruffness," she continued with a small smile, "You're a sweet guy, Ichigo."

"Yeah, yeah; I'm just oozing sucrose through my sweat glands," he mumbled as he collapsed on the bed, and letting sleep take him.

* * *

**The next day…**

_Karakura Town, 200 yards away from Karakura High School…_

Ichigo had woken up and carried out his routine the same as he had before: got up to his dad's crazy attack, got washed up, countered Dad's second attack, ate breakfast and had a pleasant conversation with Yuzu and Karin (who asked him to help get her 'striker kick' after school), avoided another attack from his dad before yelling at him for his behavior, watching as said parent went on a sobbing spree at his mom's poster, getting his stuff together (making sure to bring the hilt and Shadow's book in case some hollows showed up) and headed out the door to school.

'Okay, now Shadow said I'd know the final part of the cooling stage when it happened; so I just have to be careful and watch out for anything weird that might happen.'

**Kid, 'weird' pretty much happens everyday with you; how the hell are ya gonna notice when something is outta the ordinary when yer life's already a textbook case of strange?**

'Then, I'll just have to keep a more careful watch than I normally do,' he thought, even as the mark on his shoulder glowed softly and sent out a silent pulse of energy from him that none of the humans or Soul Reapers noticed.

* * *

_Urahara Shop…_

"Well, well, look who we have here," Urahara said smiling and waving his fan in front of his face as the group of Soul Reapers came through the Senkaimon in front of his store.

"We don't have the time to shoot the breeze with you, Urahara," Hitsugaya said as he moved toward the gigais that were lined up by the door. "We need to find Ichigo as quickly as we're able to; things are quite hectic at the Soul Society at the moment."

"Fine, fine," Urahara said, closing his fan and looking at the group as they entered their gigais. "He'll be at school around this time, so you'll be able to find him there."

"Man, these things are uncomfortable," Ikkaku said, rubbing his shoulders to get the feeling into his arms.

"Indeed," Yumichika said, "And I'm certain that this doesn't match my true beauty."

"I don't know," Rangiku said, shifting the loose-fitting school uniform around her extra-large breasts. "This is something I could get used to with the right outfit."

"Enough prattle," Soifon said impatiently, immediately walking away, the skirt of her uniform swaying. "We've wasted enough time here. We'll have to move quickly to make up for lost time and make contact with Ichigo Kurosaki and his fellow humans immediately."

"But Captain Soifon, how do you know where you're going if you've only been here recently once?" asked Renji, cocking his head to the side in confusion. Hearing this, Soifon paused before turning to look at him.

"Do you think _you_ can be a better guide then, Lieutenant Abarai?"

"Rukia does," he said, pointing at the girl next to him. "After all, she posed for three months as a student there when she first got assigned here."

"And you expect me to believe she could lead you there?" Soifon asked raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Then it's settled; Rukia will lead you there and you'll meet up with Ichigo when we get there," Yoruichi said, popping her head out from the front door. Seeing her mentor and idol, Soifon's eyes went wide.

"We-well, I suppose," She lamented before stepping to the side as Rukia moved out and down the street with everyone else following after her, Soifon moving to get past the rear end she was forced to be in.

"Wow, she's still as easy to convince as she was when she first started out," Yoruichi said casually, eyes dancing with mirth. Urahara chuckled. "What's so funny, Kisuke?"

"Well, I don't think that anyone other than you could make her change her mind that quickly, Yoruichi," he said, grinning behind his hat.

* * *

"Oh, I'm such an idiot!" Shadow berated himself as he jumped onto a nearby building. "I can't believe I forgot to give it to Tatsuki last night when I had the chance." Pulling out a bottle of green liquid, he checked that it was unharmed before putting it into the inside pocket of his jacket.

"Now, I'll have to wait until they get out before I can give it to her," he muttered as he looked around for the groups' spiritual pressure, but he found another group's instead.

"Oh great," he muttered, pressing the palms of his hands into his forehead in frustration, "As if I didn't have enough to worry about, _this_ happens. And I was sure the kid's mark wouldn't be finished for at least another day!" With that, he moved to the edge of the building and checked for anybody watching before hopping over to the next building towards the school.

* * *

_Karakura High School…_

Ichigo sat at his desk, the book Shadow had given him was out again as he waited for Ms. Ochi to start class. He'd read the part about how to do visualization of the kido movements as a test to see if you were ready to learn how to channel your spirit energy into the real thing. He'd definitely have to do that at some point after he had practiced some more. Now, he was looking for the section about the final stage of the mark so he would know when to return to fighting hollows in his Soul Reaper form again.

'The way he said I'll know makes me really nervous,' he thought as he rubbed his chin with his free hand. 'Maybe if I have an idea with what I'm dealing with, I can be prepared for when it happens.' As he flipped through the pages, he found the part he was looking for and pushed down on the page as he read the section:

_The end stages of the Mark of Oroborus usually take 3 or 4 days to be completed. During the final part of the "Cooldown", the mark takes the spirit energy of the bearer and generates a temporary barrier around him or her; the size of the barrier's range depends on how strong the individual's spiritual power was before they received the Mark, i.e., the larger the size, the wider the range. As it gets closer to being completely cooled, the barrier will pull back until it returns to the origin point. Don't get the wacky idea that this is for your protection, physically at least, because it's made more for those who don't have the ability to see spirits. When the bearer's spiritual pressure reaches a certain point, the barrier is cast all who are within it are enabled to see the unseen. As a result, this is a double-edged sword; normal people who are in the barrier are also given the sight; so spirits, Soul Reapers and Hollows are also shown to them. However, the biggest problem with this process is—_

"Ichigo." Hearing his name, he turned to look at Uryu who was standing next to him, books under his left arm. "Since it's obvious that you were too focused on your _reading_," he said as he pushed up his glasses, "I assume that you haven't sensed the Soul Reapers headed this way." Hearing this, Ichigo focused on finding any spiritual pressures that weren't there yesterday. After a few moments, he felt a group of spiritual pressures heading towards the front of the schoolyard. Upon further inspection, he found that out of the group, four were familiar, one felt new to him, and the other two were …

"Renji and Rukia." Uryu nodded as Ichigo got up at his discovery.

"I figured that you wouldn't realize they were here until they made their appearances themselves," he said coolly with a smirk, making Ichigo glare at the jab to his attention span, "And I figured they were going to need to know about Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizurio sometime anyway, so I sent out the others to greet them."

"Good thinking, man," Ichigo said as he sat back down and glanced out the window to see the group turning into the courtyard. 'Okay, so far so good. Now, just have to make sure that something doesn't go wrong.'

* * *

"Weird," Hitsugaya said, looking at the Soul Pager as the screen showed another hollow being cleansed, "That's the third time since we've been here that a hollow has been defeated within moments of it appearing. This is very strange."

"Probably means that the local Soul Reaper is really on top of things in this town," Ikkaku said offhandedly, his left hand holding tightly to the wooden sword in the belt loop of his pants.

"Hey, Ikkaku, why are ya carrying that to school?" Renji asked, his hands in his pockets. Since he wasn't wearing his bandana, the jagged tattoos on his forehead were out for the world to see.

"Well it's against the law to carry a real sword, so I gotta make due with this. Stupid humans with their stupid 'no-swords' laws."

"Not everyone is interested in battle as you are, Baldy," Rangiku said, brushing hair out of her eyes, showing how her uniform was undone to greatly show off her large cleavage. Hearing the term 'Baldy,' Ikkaku's brow started twitching like crazy as he reached for his sword.

"You wanna run that by me again, Rangiku?"

"Now Ikkaku," Yumichika chided, "Reacting in such a manner is simply not beautiful; besides, we need to blend in and attacking when we are 'new students' wouldn't help our blending."

"Wake up, you narcissistic bird-brain," Soifon spat, her braids shaking form side to side as she turned to look at Yumichika. "We still stick out even without the bald nut attacking with a stick. (Hearing this, Ikkaku began to breathe heavily, trying to keep his cool since Soifon was a captain) Or did you forget the fact that our group consists of said baldy, you the feather-faced weirdo, two of the group look like they belong with grade school kids, Lieutenant Abarai's head looks like a tattooed pineapple, _she_ looks like some kind of hooker, and my hairstyle sets me apart definitively." Soifon pointed ignored the angry and hurt looks her words were receiving.

"Okay," Rukia said, choosing to focus more on their situation than on the latest insult to her height, "Now Ichigo, Orihime, Chad and Uryu are all in Class 1-3, so we should--," however, before she could continue…

"Rukia! Renji! Over here!!" All the Soul Reapers turned to look as Orihime rushed over and pulled the two called friends into a big hug while Chad, Tatsuki, Keigo and Mizurio came up behind her.

"O-Orihime," Rukia said, clearly stunned at this, "how'd you know we were here?"

"Oh, Uryu said you were on your way here and that we should come down to meet up with you guys" came Orihime's giggly reply before she turned to see the others. "Hey Rangiku, Toshiro, how was your trip?"

"It's Captain--" unfortunately, before he could correct her, his lieutenant jumped in the conversation.

"Orihime, how've you been?" Unfortunately for Keigo, Rangiku leaned forward when she did this and he automatically went into his "pervert" mode and went flying at top speed.

"SSOOO WONDERFUUUULLLLL!!!!"

WHAM!! Without looking, Rangiku punched him in the face, sending him back onto the ground before he pushed off and flipped right-side up… just in time for Tatsuki to kick him in the gut.

"Sorry about that," she said to Rangiku, "He's a giant pervert and jumps at the sight of—OH MY GOD!!" She was close enough to see Rangiku's figure better. "I didn't think there was anyone bigger than Orihime." Noticing what she just said, Tatsuki covered her mouth with both hands before lowering her head and said, "I'm sorry, I--" before feeling something soft pushed on the side of her head.

"No harm done. For some reason, everyone thinks that when they first meet me," Rangiku replied happily as she kept squeezing Tatsuki into her breasts, not noticing how uncomfortable the girl was becoming.

"Rangiku, let her go; she can't breathe," Hitsugaya spoke curtly, his arms crossed and his brow turned down in a frown. Getting the message, she dropped Tatsuki, who proceeded to pant heavily on all fours.

"I'm so happy you guys are getting along so well," Orihime said with a big smile on her face. Chad nodded with a grunt in agreement.

"Wow," Mizurio said, pulling out his cellphone to take a picture of the scene. "When you guys said Soul Reapers were interesting, you should've mentioned their personalities were just as kooky." Hearing this, the reactions from the Soul Reapers were spit into two: widening of the eyes in shock or narrowing them in suspicion. Immediately, Rukia stepped in to try to salvage some shred of cover and went into her patented 'Innocent-School-Girl' voice and smile.

"Why Mizurio, whatever do you mean?" she said sweetly. "I'm pretty sure you're making this all up." Mizurio chuckled at this, closing his eyes as he did so.

"No need to put on a show for us Rukia; after all…" he said, opening his glowing green eyes, "I can see you all quite clearly for who you are."

"And frankly," Tatsuki said, getting her breath back, "Now that we know how you really are, that voice is actually kind of creepy." Hearing this, Rukia's eyebrow started to twitch violently before she decided to drop the act and started acting like her usual self.

"In that case," she said crossing her arms, "How about you take us to see Ichigo and Uryu? We have a lot to discuss." This caused Tatsuki, Mizurio, who dropped his eyes, and the newly awakened Keigo to look at her in shock. No matter what they heard from Ichigo, seeing Rukia go from 'Happy-Go-Lucky' to 'Code Commando' in a heartbeat.

"That's right," Renji said, stepping forward. "We gotta make sure that he's aware of the new threat."

"Understood," Chad said before motioning for everyone to follow and turned around before moving towards the school building. Soifon clenched her fists, clearly annoyed that he had just waved them all off.

"Don't be offended Captain, it makes you look dreadful," Yumichika said, flipping his bangs as he walked past.

"Oh," Orihime said, looking at Soifon startled, "I'm sorry; are you a captain like Toshiro?"

"Captain Hitsugaya!"

"Yes," she replied shortly, "But I would rather not have to repeat myself with such matters as my rank."

"Oh, you're mad about Chad leaving so soon, right?" Mizurio said pleasantly, "Don't take it so hard; he's just not that talkative."

"All right," Hitsugaya interjected, "We'll continue this discussion inside then, shall we?" With that, everyone nodded in agreement and began to trek after Chad… though it didn't stop Keigo from making another unsuccessful pass at Rangiku.

* * *

_Classroom 1-3…_

When Ichigo and Uryu heard the door sliding, they both turned to see the group walking in. Orihime smiled and started to move towards them before…

"ORIHIME!!!" Chizuru, the red-headed lesbian of the class and the person who gave Tatsuki a practice dummy to perfect her karate on (herself), jumped out and tried to grab at Orihime's chest.

--WHAM!—

"Will you just give it up, all ready?!" Tatsuki growled, her foot re-chambered in case her enemy tried something while her back was turned.

"I'm startin' to like this place," Ikkaku commented, shouldering his blade. "That girl would definitely have a strong chance at joining Squad 11 if she were to join the 13 Court Guard Squads."

"Hardly," Soifon spat, "You Squad 11 members only swing your zanpakuto like over-caffeinated gorillas; she uses her fists."

"Hey guys," Ichigo said turning everyone's attention onto him. "It's good to see you all again Rukia, Renji, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Rangiku, Toshiro…"

"That's Captain Hitsugaya! Get it right!"

"And…I'm sorry, who are you?" he finished, pointing at Soifon.

Hearing this utter disrespect directed at her, she cleared her throat. "I'm Captain Soifon of Squad 2 and the Current Commander of the Stealth Force." She couldn't help herself; she was fighting to make sure she wasn't smirking.

"Oh, well nice to meet you, Soifon," Ichigo said with a wave of his hand. That nearly got her to jump him and beat him up until he only called her "Captain" on his hands and knees. Thankfully, she didn't need to.

--BANG! CRASH!—

"OW! Rukia, what was that for?!" he yelled as he clutched his shin, his eyebrow ticking.

"For making us worry about you for nothing, you idiot!" she screamed in his face.

**Ya know Ichigo, they say that when a girl punches a guy, it means that she digs him…**

'She didn't hit me; she kicked my shin!'

**Same difference. She's still interested in ya, so don't just stand there; make a move on her. Or maybe yer more interested in that new captain with the nice--**

'SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOU PERVERT!!'

**WHAT? I was gonna say "tan"; how does that make… oh, ho ho ho. Now who's the pervert Ichigo?**

--SLAM—

"What was THAT for?!" he yelled as Rukia slammed her elbow into his nose.

"THAT was for being so stupid as to fight the Arrancar in your body, letting yourself get hurt, and getting Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizurio involved in all of this!" she replied crossing her arms angrily. Before she could make another move to punish him however, Uryu stepped in.

"Before we continue with this, and I will concede to the notion that Ichigo needs to be physically punished for his mistakes," he smirked as Ichigo glared at him, "I would really prefer discussing why we are all here, with two Soul Reaper captains present."

"Actually, Captain Soifon is here on a separate case, involving a person you've all come into contact with at least once in the past 48 hours," Hitsugaya said crossing his arms and staring at the group of teenagers pointedly.

"We've met four people in the past day," Chad said, sitting own and looking around, "It would be nice if… you described the person."

"Though to be fair," Tatsuki added, "Us new guys don't really know the same people that you all know very well; that means we have a longer list to go through."

"To be honest, only Captains Hitsugaya and Soifon, as well Rangiku here and Captain Soifon's lieutenant actually saw the guy," Renji put in, nodding to each mentioned before turning to look at Ichigo. "You met him as a matter of fact." He got a blank stare as an answer. "When you were rescuing Rukia?" he tried. Ichigo just shrugged, still not getting it.

"My lieutenant, Marechiyo Omaeda, is a lazy, cowardly, fat-ass that likes to eat fried rice crackers. He has a giant gut and his zanpakuto's shikai was broken with your bare hand when you stopped him an two other lieutenants on Sokyoku Hill after you broke the scaffolding; the other two lieutenants, I might add, were also defeated with their shikais released and you without needing to use your zanpakuto," Soifon reported dryly, looking at Ichigo with a cocked eyebrow.

He put his hand to his chin in thought. After a minute, he just looked at her and shrugged. "Good God man, are you _that_ incompetent?!" she yelled, slamming her hands onto the desktop.

"Don't take it personally, Captain Soifon," Tatsuki said smirking. "Ichigo sucks when it comes to names and faces. He needed Orihime to point Uryu out when they first officially met."

"There's also two people that Captain Hitsugaya didn't mention," Ikkaku said, looking down. Sighing, he looked up. "Yachiru and Captain Zaraki were the ones who got there before the others."

"So what? What did the guy look like?" Uryu asked, pushing up his glasses.

"We don't know; he wore all black, including a mask, a coat, boots and gloves so we couldn't see any part of him," Rangiku said. "He also carried a sword on his back, though he didn't use it when Captain Zaraki fought him."

When they hear 'mask, coat, boots and gloves,' the teens all thought of Shadow immediately, the shock evident on their faces. "So-so Shadow fought Kenpachi?" Ichigo asked, remembering what Shadow said when they first met.

_"__Well, I found out about the risks involved in his process in restoring your powers and I had a bit of business to take care of in the Soul Society anyway, so while I was there, I got a glimpse of your fight with Byakuya and, more specifically, when your hollow came out and decided to go wild."_

"You know his name?" Soifon asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"He introduced himself to us personally," Orihime said before smiling, "He was really nice about it too."

"He was kind of funny too," Keigo said, reaching his arm around Rangiku who elbowed his ribs.

"You think this is a joke?!" Soifon snapped. Hitsugaya put his hand on her shoulder before continuing from where she left off.

"Maybe you don't understand the seriousness of the situation," he said coolly. "This 'Shadow' is dangerous because he--" before he could say more, he was interrupted by the door swinging open and a curly-haired brunette came in, pushing a TV on a moving cart, connected to a large number of extension cords.

"You guys—have to—see this," she gasped. Another girl with short brown hair pulled back by a hairpin looked at her.

"What's up, Mahana?" Michiru asked, frowning in worry.

"If it's with her, you can bet it's something stupid," commented Ryo, not bothering to look up from her book.

"NO! It just came on the news; watch," Mahana protested, turning on the TV. What turned on shocked the entire class, especially the group that knew about what was being discussed.

_**"If you're just tuning in, we are in downtown Karakura where, if you can believe it, monsters have been sighted by the locals,"**_ came the female news reporter from the TV. _**"Reports started around early this morning and have continued onward with varying descriptions of the monsters; all reports having two common factors: they all wore what appeared to be white masks and all had perfect circular holes somewhere in their torsos."**_

Hearing this, everyone of the group who fought hollows looked at the device in shock. Supposedly, only people with higher levels of spiritual pressure could sense hollows, let alone see them. But here it was, several eyewitnesses seeing hollows in broad daylight like they had seen a bird.

"Impossible," Rukia whispered. Ichigo's frown deepened as he brought the book he had been studying and placed it in the middle of the desk.

"According to this and this," he paused to show the mark on his chest, "it's very possible." Hitsugaya leaned over, grabbing Ichigo's collar and pulling him in to look directly into his eyes.

"Where did you get that, Ichigo?" he spoke softly, his voice above a whisper. He didn't have the chance to get the answer he was looking for.

"OH MY GOD! WHAT IS THAT?!?!" Chizuru screamed, pointing out the window. Everyone turned around, Hitsugaya jerking Ichigo's collar as he did so. Outside, there was a hollow that looked like a giant bat with a hairy black body and a mask shaped with large ears and a mouth of sharp teeth with four elongated fangs showing as it roared, speeding directly towards the classroom.

"Ichigo," Rukia said, snapping on her glove with the flaming skull on the back of it. Reaching over to grab him, she was surprised when he pulled back. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I can't leave my body until all this is over," he protested.

"Says who?!" Renji yelled. As the hollow got closer to the window, jaws wide to start feasting…

A whistling sound and a bright blue energy arrow later and the hollow was destroyed. "Don't assume that Ichigo is the only one who can fight a hollow," Uryu commented dryly, pushing his glasses up with his free hand, his bow dropping as he lowered his other arm. Looking at his audience, he saw that everyone who didn't know he could do that was gaping open mouthed at him. "What?"

"WOULD YOU WATCH WHERE YOU'RE SHOOTING?!?! YA NEARLY CLIPPED MY RIGHT WING!!!" This time, everyone turned to see Shadow, wings folding to fit through the window, stepping from the frame into the classroom. But when Hitsugaya, Rangiku and Soifon saw him, they rose from the seat, widened their eyes in shock and reached for their gikongon respectively.

"Well, forgive me for not noticing you; you do tend to blend into the background," Uryu countered, which made the Soul Reapers in the group shift their gaze to him in shock at how easily he was talking to the new arrival.

"Please," Orihime pleaded, stepping in between them and looking at Shadow. "He didn't mean to; we're just nervous because we just found out that normal people can see hollows."

"Oh yeah," he said, "I noticed them on my way over here." Looking over, he saw that the rest of the class was staring at him. Sighing he moved to the front of the room and spoke. "Just so we are clear, I'm not a Goth; I just like the color black." Everyone collapsed when they heard this, all thinking, 'That's what he was thinking?!'

"Um, Shadow?" Tatsuki said, pointing to his wings. He turned his head slightly to look and nodded in understanding.

"I'm not a vampire either," he added, turning back to the normal kids. "These aren't bat wings, they're dragon wings; there is a difference." Again, they all fell thinking, '_That's_ not the problem!!'

"All right everyone," came the voice of Ms. Ochi, pushing the door open to see the strange masked man with wings in front of her class. "I'm sorry, can I help you?"

"Yes, I'm here to get all the kids in the school out of the area while this monster thing is going on and could you please stop staring at my wings?" he said, putting his hands on his hips and pulling his wings into his body. "I'm not a vampire; I just finished explaining this to the students."

"Well obviously. Those wings belong to a dragon, not a bat." Though nobody fell over this statement, no one didn't wonder, 'Is she serious?!'

"Your teacher doesn't seem all that concerned with him having wings Ichigo," Ikkaku said, putting his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"She doesn't really concern herself with stuff like that," he replied.

"Well," Ochi said, scratching her head, "This sounds a little out there, but if it'll keep these kids in one piece, then I'm gonna go with it. I'll inform the other teachers and we'll begin evacuation at once! Field trip, everybody!!!"

"Actually, those guys," Shadow said, pointing at Ichigo and his friends, "Are my students in fighting the monsters, so they need to stay here."

"Sure," Ochi replied, waving her hand dismissively as she led the others out. Before leaving the room herself, she moved back to hit him on the head with her book. "Just don't let them get hurt or it's gonna be my job on the line."

"Will do," Shadow reassured her with a wave of his hand. When the door closed, he found himself pushed up against the wall by Soifon, his right arm locked up behind his back.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Tatsuki asked angrily, crunching the desk wood under her fist as a reflex.

"This bastard snuck into the Soul Society, stole the Sokyoku and defeated Kenpachi Zaraki with one shot before escaping to the Living World," Soifon snapped, turning to glare at the girl. "And I would advise you to watch your tone with me, because I'm not as nice as Lady Yoruichi."

"Wait, Kenpachi loved to fight," Ichigo put in, "Why is that a part of it? He probably enjoyed the idea of a guy strong enough to beat him with one hit."

"Unfortunately Ichigo, our captain's loss was quite ugly to him," Yumichika said, shaking his head.

"Why would--"

"Because this guy originally refused to fight Captain Zaraki before putting him down with a kido attack," Rangiku said, eyeing the pinned man warily.

"Except that it wasn't a kido spell we know," Hitsugaya said, his arms crossed.

"He made his own form of kido," Chad answered the hidden question.

"Seriously, can't this wait til later? We do have a more pressing issue here that needs attention," Shadow asked before Soifon hit him in the back of the head.

"Shut up you," she said harshly, "We'll take care of you--"

"Not me; the hollows. The final stage of Ichigo's mark's cooling process is happening earlier than what I thought it was. They're on their way here right now!"

"Ichigo, what's he talking about?" Rukia asked, getting angry at how many things were being kept from her.

However, Ichigo wasn't listening anymore. He was picking up the book he had left unfinished when he was waiting for Rukia and the others to come up. Flipping through the pages, he came to where he was reading and looked up. "I think I just found out what," he said before looking back to the book and reading the section he didn't finish.

"_However, the biggest problem with this process is that any hollows in the barrier become drawn to the one wearing the Mark, like a Siren's call. At first, it will be only a few hollows, curious about the feeling they have and going to investigate. But as the cooldown comes closer to being finished and the barrier becomes smaller in range, the intensity and volume of the hollows' attacks will increase. Be prepared to fight a small army. When it's over though, the hollows will come out of their battle-crazed state and return to Hueco Mundo, confused as to what they were doing,__"_ he read.

After he finished reading, he looked around at the others. There was fear in Keigo, Mizurio, Rangiku and Orihime's faces, the latter had her hands covering her mouth. Rukia, Renji, Uryu, Hitsugaya, and Chad looked apprehensive. Only Ikkaku and Yumichika seemed to be enjoying the fact that they were about to be overrun by hollows; that left Soifon to look ready to tear Shadow's head off, at least on the surface.

**Wow. I gotta say, that's a whammy of a fine print. So glad I ain't the one whose gonna have ta take the heat for this. Although, considering how many times Rukia's beaten you, I'm pretty sure yer a masochist; ergo, yer gonna be in for a treat.**

'Now's not the time for gloating Cazador,' he thought before shifting his eyes back on those in front of him. "Well," he said trying to lighten the mood, "I guess that means Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizurio will be able to get some real experience in fighting hollows."

"That's all you can say when we're about to be swarmed by hollows because of something _you_ caused?!" Renji hollered at the younger man's face.

"Now you know why I asked your teacher to get everyone out of here," Shadow commented, rubbing his wrist as he moved to stand beside Chad.

"How'd you get out?" Soifon asked, clearly shocked that someone had escaped her grasp.

"You're not the first to put me in a tight position," he replied. "By the way, who are guys anyway? I can guess you're all Soul Reapers, but anything else is a blur."

* * *

_**Next time on Shadows Are Rising:**_

"I'm starting to like this guy."

"How long can you hold out?"

"What do you say to a bet, Captain?"

* * *

_**Wow! My longest chapter at 13,000 words and 32 pages! **__**. Now, to my reviewers:**_

_**Nameless flame wielder: I'm glad you think so highly of my work and that my ideas for Tatsuki and Keigo are so well received. I'm also happy that you appreciate what I'm doing with Shadow and Yang and I hope you won't be disappointed with what's coming.**_

_**Grinja: Thanks for taking the time to read it. Since it follows the storyline, there will be parts that aren't going to be filled with action and fighting, but the parts that don't will help move the plot along. I'm glad you think my idea for comic relief with Ichigo, Zangetsu, and Cazador and I guess that great minds think alike. Oh, and if you think that was interesting angle, you haven't seen anything yet. I plan to have plenty of twists in store for the readers.**_

_**Trust me, the mysteries behind Shadow, Yin, and Yang will be revealed in time. And thanks for pointing out Bleach Wikia, but I was able to find it before now by going on so I've got a couple ideas for kido. And your choice in the Ichi/Tatsuki flirting is noted; maybe it could end up as a genuine couple; I don't know, we'll just have to wait and see.**_

_**Phantasm of Chaos: I guess I'm glad you like my spontaneity and that you're ready for this chapter and to find out about Cazador playing matchmaker, but I don't quite get what you mean by 'No no no, your thinking with logic, as you have done with the rest of your story.'**_

_**derderxp: Glad you think so.**_

_**tamzingrace: If I told it all at once, where would the mystery be? As for Ichigo's 'something at his side', well let's just say, that roller coaster will throw you for a loop and have you doing corkscrews. Also, I'll try to update soon, but I'm taking summer courses in college, so it might be a while.**_

_**Didi111: Thank you, thank you. You can be sure I'll be writing more after this. I'm happy you don't have any criticism. Hope I don't disappoint you with my next chapters.**_

_**BioHazard82 (1-7): Thanks for the 7 'Great chapters.' You currently hold the record for most reviews to my story; both in total reviews and most in one day. Wow.**_

_**Now, this next bits were originally part of the story, but I felt would be better as extras. Here they are:

* * *

**_

_Bonus 1:_

_Seireitei, Kuchiki Mansion, Rukia's room (just after dinner at Ichigo's)…_

"All right," Rukia muttered to herself as she ran a mental checklist of her items. "Cellphone: check. Chappy the Rabbit gikongon: check (finally). My zanpakuto: check. Spare clothes for my gigai: check. Notebook and colored pencils to explain situation to Ichigo(and hit him on the head with when he starts acting like an idiot): check. Okay, I'm ready."

"Are you ready, Rukia?" Came the stoic voice of Byakuya through the doorway. Hearing this, Rukia bowed low in respect.

"Yes, brother," she said in a subdued tone.

"Very well," he replied coolly, turning away. "Report to the Senkaimon and do your best not to disrespect the family name."

As luck would have it, the very second he said that, Ichigo was telling Tatsuki about Rukia being short. And, after being around him for so long, Rukia had developed an instinct to tell when he had insulted her in one way or another. It was just misfortune that her body reacted in the same response that it did to Ichigo's insults; meaning that she ended up kicking Byakuya so hard in his rear that he fell forward before turning over to look at her in shock, which her own face mirrored.

"I'm-I'm so sorry, brother," she said reaching over and pulling him up. "I-I have no idea why I did that; I-I usually only do it to Ichigo when he's being an idiot." She stopped when her brother held up a hand, his face passive again.

"We'll talk about this when you get back from your mission, Rukia" he spoke calmly. "Also, be sure to practice your drawings; you'll never improve if you let your work stay at the level it is now." Poor Byakuya; at the same tie he said that, Tatsuki was saying how Rukia's drawings were bad; this time, Byakuya ended up with a broken nose from a punch to the face and it was starting to bleed. Staring at him in horror was Rukia, the culprit.

'Oh, dear God,' she thought in fear, 'He had just forgiven me for kicking him and how do I show my appreciation? By punching him so hard, his nose gets broken and starts bleeding. If there's a God, he must hate me a lot.'

"I'll overlook this matter if you don't hit me again," he said before he turned and started walking quickly away from the room, pinching his nose and tilting his head back. Rukia just stood there, torn between happiness and rage. On the happiness side, she was glad that Byakuya wouldn't kick her out of the family (though she guessed it wouldn't look good in front of the clan elders to tell them that their head got beaten up by his adopted little sister) and on the other hand…

'I just know Ichigo had something to do with this,' she thought angrily. 'And when I find out what he did, I will skin him alive with his own zanpakuto and freeze his bleeding corpse with mine!'

* * *

_Bonus 2:_

_In the Senkaimon (about the ending of Ichigo and Karin's conversation)…_

"Now then," Hitsugaya said as the group of seven moved through the vortex towards the Human World, "Once we're in Karakura Town, Kisuke Urahara should have our gigais ready and we'll have just enough time to get to his school around his first class. Once we're there, we can straighten out the details about this masked man and the supposed 'Bount' we overlooked."

"Now, to make myself clear," Soifon continued from her fellow captain's statement, "If any of you get in the way of the missions success, I will personally see to it that the ones responsible are appropriately reprimanded. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am," was the immediate response.

"Good," she said turning to face forward again, "Now pick up the pace. I don't want you little girls to drag the rest of us down."

--WHAM!--

Grabbing the back of her head, Soifon turned to glare angrily at Rukia who had swung her palm and struck the captain in the back of the head, a move that stunned the rest of the group. "KUCHIKI!!!"

"Whoa, didn't know she had it in her," Ikkaku muttered to Yumichika and Renji, both just nodding since their minds still hadn't fully grasped the idea that Rukia would hit a captain, let alone Soifon who was a trained assassin.

"I'M SO, SO SORRY, CAPTAIN SOIFON!!!" Rukia pleaded, bowing over and over again. "I don't know why that happened; that's the third time that that's happened to me!" Hearing this, Renji's mind immediately snapped as he remembered something important.

"Those other times," he asked slowly, "There wouldn't happen to be at least one of those related to Captain Kuchiki going to Captain Unohana to treat a broken nose, would it?"

"Wha-what're you talking about, Renji?" Rukia said, laughing nervously, "I'm nowhere near strong enough to hurt my brother; he just tripped and fell on a rock by the koi pond in the mansion courtyard."

"Really? 'Cause he told Unohana that he was pushed by a group of Squad 11 members into the side of a building," Renji said, a knowing smile growing on his face as her's grew red from embarrassment.

"It doesn't matter," Hitsugaya interrupted, moving towards the end of the tunnel. "What's important is that we don't waste any time and reach the other side before there's anymore complications."

"Yes sir," said everyone else except Soifon, who just moved to jog next to Hitsugaya.

"Why are you just allowing her to get away with assaulting a higher ranked officer, Captain Hitsugaya?" she probed, giving a slight glare at him.

"Simple," he replied smoothly, glancing sideways at her, "I feel that it would be in our best interest to get to Ichigo Kurosaki before Aizen gets the chance to strike again; also, it wouldn't do you any good to complain, Soifon."

"And why's that?"

"Well, how would everyone react to the news that the Commander of the Stealth Force was hit by an unseated officer with none of the previous training that you had, from behind, which you should have been able to deflect easily; and if Byakuya Kuchiki did suffer the same accident you just did, I'd think his pride wouldn't be able to take that kind of beating anymore than yours would," This caused Soifon's cheeks to gain a red tint as she looked away.

"Let's just keep this little accident between ourselves then." With that, the group strived towards the Human World.

* * *

_**Sorry that the story was cut off**__** so shortly, but I wanted to finish the chapter before the weekend. Also, check out my other story, Daddy's Little Girl; it's got Soifon as a baby and Ichigo is taking care of her. It's family fun. Happy 4**__**th**__** of July everyone!**_

**--TwinShadows**


	9. Need More Time: Rack Your Brains W This

_**To everyone out there reading this,**_

_**I'm doing my best to write up the next chapter for "Shadows Are Rising" since I really want to update it, but it's taking me longer than I expected it to. It's not so much that I've got writer's block; it's just that I visualize different sections at a time and it requires more thought to fill up the details in between points. So in the meantime, I've decided to keep you all occupied by putting up a little contest.**_

_**Simply put, you guys review and tell me how old you think Shadow and Yang are (for the record, I've already got the numbers but I want some effort from the other side of the fourth wall). When I put up my new chapter, I'll tell the name of the 1**__**st**__** reviewer who gave me the closest answer to the true ages. The winner will get to PM me one question about something about that will be coming up in the story. The catch is the winner can't ask about things like plot twists, character development and things like that, only small details and when I answer, they're FORBIDDEN to tell ANYONE ELSE the answer.**_

_**I'll be up again with the next chapter ASAP, folks. Think hard b4 answering.**_

**--TwinShadows**


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